Fictober19: Hakukai Edition
by Onnoff
Summary: Collection of fics written based on the fictober19 prompts from tumblr (fictober-event.) - None of the fics are connected to each other (I hope I don't have to come back to change this part of the description) - Most are probably going to be HakuKai - A lot will probably be AUs - (Update schedule: Irregular)
1. Day 1

Day 1: "It will be fun, trust me."

It which I took Saguru's Batman comment in his first appearance and turned it into A Thing. featuring: nerdy ass Saguru, exasperate Kaito filled with regrets

(This fic is unbeta'd and is probably filled with mistakes. You've been warned.)

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he complained for the 50th time in the past few months since this started.

Hakuba laughed from the work table across from him, looking over the gold scale shirt that's apparently part of the outfit. He looked over his shoulder with what would be a challenging look if not for the mirthful smile on his face.

"Oh c'mon, it'll be fun! Trust me!" he said.

Kaito sighed as he fiddle with the latch that attaches the cowl of his outfit to the neck of the costume. Removing the cowl/helmet/mask hybrid, he turned the thing around to look at it. He had to admit, Hakuba did a pretty damn near perfect job of crafting the silhouette of the Batman mask. Especially the eyeholes which kinda look white when Kaito looked at it this way, but is completely clear when he's wearing the thing.

Looking over to where Hakuba's holding his very shiny shirt up, Kaito wondered if some of the stuff he used to make their outfits are prototypes from whatever the heck Hakuba Labs are working on. Normally he wouldn't suspect Hakuba to be the kind of person to use lab stuff for his own personal... wait, scratch that, he totally would, the bastard.

Not for the first time, Kaito regretted agreeing to this.

"What exactly is it that I'm supposed to be doing here again?" he asked Hakuba. Last he remembered, the last time he came over for a fitting with the Batman cosplay that he's supposed to be wearing at Comic Con, they agreed that the fit was perfect. So why exactly are they here, again, in what is apparently Hakuba's workspace for making cosplay outfits.

Hakuba sighed as he placed the shirt back down on the table and reached for a needle and thread, leaning over the worktable... and, uh... huh... Kaito tilted his head as his eyes drifted down Hakuba's form. Pass the broad shoulders, lingering a little over glistening skin, exposed under the light thanks to the tank top he's wearing. And further down... to focus right on the shapely curve holding his attention right now. The gold belt above the skin fitting green pants made a nice frame, accentuating Hakuba's… _assets_... Man... those pants are really leaving nothing to the imagination... hmm...

"I told you, Kuroba-kun, the Con will be busy. That means the restroom will be busy as well," Hakuba answered Kaito's question, explaining the reason that Kaito's asked for. "You need to practice getting in an out of your outfit so that nothing unfortunate happens." Hmmm, Kaito really should be paying attention to Hakuba's answer, shouldn't he...

Hakuba shifted his stance a bit and Kaito tilted his head to the other side.

"Yeah... uh huh, okay," Kaito mumbled out distractedly. Maybe it was a good thing he let Aoko bully him into not backing out of this.

Still staring, Kaito started to smirk as he thought to himself that maybe Hakuba was right about this being fun. Especially since Hakuba's cosplay won't have a cape to block Kaito's view.

(Kaito found out later that the trident **was** part of the cosplay. Luckily, he knows how to be sneaky and thus, safe from Hakuba's suspiciously pointy looking "faux" weapon.)

* * *

I'm using fictober19 as writing practice to push myself to write something short everyday. But that means that I don't get the time to flesh out each of the stories I'm posting for fictober.

I plan to go back to expand (and definitely edit) on all of my fictober fics eventually, but I'll prob put priority to work on the ones that got the most interest first. So if you'd like me to expand on a certain fic, please leave a review.


	2. Day 2

Day 2: "Just follow me, I know the area."

A year later, Kaito takes Saguru to Singapore.

(This fic is unbeta'd.

This fic reference M23, but only from the stuff from the trailers and promo clips, coz I haven't seen the movie yet. So if you're the type of person who avoids all trailers and promo clips, and count those stuff as spoilers, then this fic does have some.)

* * *

Saguru sighed as he rested his chin on his arms, leaning on the edge of the infinity pool. He closed his eyes, enjoying the slight wind brushing against his face, before opening his eyes to look at the glittering lights of the bustling city, just across the Marina Bay. Feeling content, Saguru relaxed himself and just enjoyed the sight before him.

The suggestion to come to Singapore was an unexpected surprise. Kuroba-kun knew about his theory of KID's identity. Saguru knew about the heist that KID had in Singapore last year. He briefly wondered if this was Kuroba-kun's roundabout way of admitting that he was KID, before Saguru brushed that thought aside. The chances that Kuroba-kun will to being KID was highly unlikely.

In the end, Saguru went with the suggestion to go to Singapore. After all, there's a scratch off map in his room and Singapore remained miserably unscratched.

He shouldn't have been surprised that Kuroba-kun would know the main spots of attraction here. Or that he would know the fastest routes to get from one place to another and other shortcuts of the sort.

"_Just follow me, I know the area!"_

He really did. They spent most of the day with Kuroba-kun dragging him around town. Slowing down when Saguru would stop to appreciate the sights, or for photos, or just to enjoy _being_ in Singapore.

Of course, he noticed how Kuroba-kun would change his stance, or posture, or put on another layer of mask at certain spots. Saguru wasn't exactly sure what caused those reactions. He could guess that the Merlion spewing blood during Kuroba-kun's last visit probably wasn't the best memory to have, even if it certainly a memorable one.

But he didn't dare ask, didn't want to pry, not when neither of them knew what they are in this inbetween stage of whatever this relationship might be. He'll have to trust that Kuroba-kun will tell him when he's ready. Like how he chose to visit Singapore with him.

Something bumped against his shoulder, _someone_. Saguru turned to see Kuroba-kun looking down at him with a raised eyebrow. Saguru smiled up at him as he stood up to stand on the pool floor, shaking his head slightly.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought. Did you say something?"

Kuroba-kun shook his head and bumped against him again.

"Mmm, no not really," he said, smiling slowly. "I just wanted to bother you, since you look like you're overthinking something again," his smile turned mischievous at the jab. He wasn't wrong.

"Just admiring the beautiful sight," Saguru replied.

Kuroba-kun hummed as a response. We stood side by side, skin touching and brushing against each other. Looking over the city as silence fell over us with the weight of all the implications this trip had.

Saguru wondered how to broach the subject. How to ask Kuroba-kun _why_ Singapore, when Kuroba-kun spoke.

"Y'know..." he began haltingly, "I didn't really have a good time when I was in Singapore last year."

Saguru turned slightly to look at him. Kuroba-kun's opening up, letting him in. He'd be a fool to waste this fragile trust offered between them. Kuroba-kun saw that he had Saguru's attention, and raised his arm in a placating manner, waving them slightly, brushing away intangible worry.

"Not that I had a terrible time here!" He looked like he was trying to reassure Saguru. "Well, I didn't think it was that terrible at the time... but," Kuroba-kun paused again. "After a while, all I'd remember was all the stupid, horrible stuff I had to deal with." He spoke with increasing intensity, ending the sentence with a slight growl.

Saguru reached over, covering Kuroba-kun's hand with his on the edge of the pool. Kuroba-kun looked down at their hands. Before flipping his over, to intertwine their fingers together. His shoulders relaxed with a sigh.

"I thought that... maybe, if I make new memories here," he turned to look at Saguru. "Maybe, I'll remember Singapore as something more than a bad trip." Saguru wanted to wipe away the little crinkle on his forehead, to vanish the frown away.

Giving Kuroba-kun's hand a light squeeze, Saguru smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you, Kuroba-kun." Kuroba-kun squeezed back lightly. "I hope I'm able to give you happy memories from this trip."

"You do."

He interrupted Saguru. His look was fiercely intense. Saguru felt himself smile as warmth filled within him. Maybe...

"If I may suggest something," he began, making Kuroba-kun tilt his head. "Perhaps we could visit areas that you haven't been to as well? That way, we can really make this trip ours."

Kuroba-kun's expression melted into a relaxed smile.

Maybe Saguru does know what they are in this relationship of theirs after all.

* * *

Again, I plan to go back to expand (and definitely edit) on all of my fictober fics eventually, but I'll prob put priority to work on the ones that got the most interest first. So if you'd like me to expand on a certain fic, please leave a review.


	3. Day 3

Day 3: "Now? Now you listen to me?"

Saguru wished KID would listen to him, but KID has his reasons not to.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Bullets flew overhead in the commotion. Saguru did his best to tuck himself behind a piece of fallen rubble. Clicking his tongue in irritation, a bad habit of his, he tried to peer behind his cover to see what's going on, before startling and quickly ducking back. A bullet flew pass. Right where his head was just now.

"Stop poking your head out! You're going to get yourself killed!"

Saguru clicked his tongue again. Right. He wasn't alone. No matter, what he needed to focus on right now is the moment that those mystery gunmen run out of ammunition. Then he could potentially use that opportunity to make a run for it, with minimal addition of new holes in his body that is. He wasn't under any impression that he would come out of this scot free. Saguru checked his own firearm.

"Are you ignoring me? Really? Is now really the time to be petty, Tantei-san?"

Saguru gritted his teeth and glared at his companion (not by his choice, mind you). Of course, KID wasn't letting any emotion show on his face, being the masterful performer that he is.

"Now's not the best time, KID."

He replied curtly before turning his attention back to the situation at hand. He could tell that the other officers are doing their best to incapacitate these men. Clicking his tongue (he really needs to stop doing this), Saguru muttered to himself about how nice a distraction would be right about now. He heard a sigh from beside him.

"Ah... I really should have just left this place earlier..." KID hummed. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here at all consi-"

Saguru whirled around to look at him, furious.

"Really? Now? Now you listen to me?" Saguru whispered harshly. KID open his mouth to retort, but Saguru's not going to let him. "I _**told**_ you! I told you to call this off! Cancel it!"

KID's expressions were never easy to read. But now it was as if he was looking at a stone carving. Merciless. Uncaring. Or maybe he was misreading KID again, as he always seemed to do. Saguru couldn't begin to guess what he was thinking right now.

Something loud crashed behind them, distracting Saguru as he ducked from the sheer volume of it. He felt something shifting nearby. As he moves his head away from his arm and looked up, Saguru could only gasp and back away when he saw how close KID was. In the corner of his eye, he can see KID's arm pushing against their cover, blocking his path.

"Tantei-san," KID called for attention and he looked back at KID. Something flickered to the left. Saguru shifted his line of sight slightly to see KID's hand holding up 4 balls between his spread out fingers. The same way he does when he wants you to see the mistake you made before he vanishes in a cloud of smoke.

KID cleared his throat.

"You were saying you needed a distraction?"

Saguru looked at KID again, who remained expressionless, of course. Then sighed begrudgingly and nodded.

"Yes, we do"

With that, KID's poker face immediately transformed into his trademark smirk as he tossed the balls behind their cover. Saguru waited to hear the sound of startled, confused men. Before grabbing KID's arm, dragging him up with Saguru as he moved to their escape path.

He has had the layout of the location memorized, to block KID's escape. Now, he was using that very knowledge to escape the chaos with KID. The magician thief kept up beside him, not making any more comments. When Saguru heard footsteps behind them. He muttered out a curse before picking up the pace. Lifting the gun up, he used his left hand to flick the safety off.

Saguru would say that their luck ran out, but they never had any to begin with today.

A shot ran out.

And he couldn't think.

Saguru cried out as he clutched at his right arm, his gun arm, excruciating pain searing through the bicep, making him stumble a bit. But there's no time to stumble. He sped up his pace. Clearly, his body was not producing the adequate amount of adrenaline needed for this situation. Peeking back, he made a decision.

Saguru slowed down to turn around.

"Hakuba!?"

"Don't stop! Just keep running!" He shouted over his shoulder, switching the gun from his right hand to his left. This would have to do.

"What? What are you doing?!"

He clicked his tongue. KID was distracting him.

"Will you just listen to me for once in your life? Just _**go!**_"

Saguru lifted his arm up to take aim.

This would have to do.

A handgun wasn't like a hunting rifle and he hates it for not being so.

_This would have to do._

He dodged a bullet when he saw a man taking aim. Saguru stop walking backwards.

_**This would have to do.**_

He aimed at the exposed gas pipe and shot. Missed. Another shot. Another miss. Clicking his tongue, he took another shot.

A metallic clang sounded out.

Saguru turned and started to run as fast as he could.

An explosion didn't stop him from running, but wind and fire and chemical reactions are faster than human legs. The force of it pushed Saguru to the ground. His ears were ringing slightly.

'I need to get up.'

A hand touched him. Saguru gasped. He had to get away.

"Hakuba? ...Hakuba!"

Oh. Right. KID.

"C'mon, get up! We have to go!"

A hand turned into hands, lifting him up. Saguru lifted his arms to clutched at the source of stability to stay upright. Wincing from the pain in his right arm. A grunt. Then he wasn't standing anymore... what?

Saguru looked up to see a worried frown on KID's face. It didn't make him look any less determined. He probably should argue against being carried in this manner, but he couldn't focus. KID's arms around him wasn't helping either. Not when it felt warm. Safe.

Oh. He's probably coming down from his adrenaline rush.

"Hakuba?"

Saguru hummed in response, closing his eyes and leaning closer against the warmth. He won't feel pain if he's asleep, right?

"Oi! Haku-"

...

...

...

"Idiot... of course I came. How else was I supposed to keep you out of this if I let you deal with Snake's men by yourself."

* * *

Again, I plan to go back to expand on all of my fictober fics eventually, but I'll prob put priority to work on the ones that got the most interest first.

So if you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	4. Day 4

Day 4: "I know you didn't ask for this."

Saguru saves KID.

His methods are not ideal.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

He dodged another hand that came flying and flapping at his face. Saguru grabbed the arm and wrestle to keep it in his hold. The other arm came at him, so he grabbed that one too. He has had quite enough of being smacked in the face by panicking arms, thank you very much.

"Kuroba-kun, stop doing that!" He yelled at his assailant, trying to get the magician thief to stop aimlessly flapping around like a fish on dry land. Of course, Kuroba-kun never had the decency to listen to him, even when he's right- No, _especially_ when he's right.

**...**

_He had acted on instinct. He saw a familiar form in white falling down, down, down and getting swept this way and that by the tides. Saguru just acted. He had to admit that he was panicking. He had never seen any human this far down in the depths, not without proper gear. So he acted._

**...**

"Kuroba!" Saguru yelled again. This time, it finally got his attention. Kuroba-kun's eyes snapped open. Wide in panic, it looked this way and that, taking in information. That wouldn't do, it would only make him panic even more. "Kuroba-kun, look at me!" He said, moving himself closer to him. Putting himself in direct line of sight.

Kuroba-kun didn't seem any calmer, his mouth opened for half a second, letting a few air bubbles escape before he looked close to another bout of flailing.

"Kuroba-kun, I need you to calm down," the thief gave him an incredulous look. "The more you panic and fight me, the harder it is for me to bring you to shore." Saguru said, hoping Kuroba-kun will actually listen to him for once.

**...**

_They were far too deep in the depths for Saguru to imagine that Kuroba-kun would survive simply by having him swim him up to the shore. So Saguru did what he thought was best. He just needed to increase Kuroba-kun's chances of survival, and the Breath of Life would do just that. It was a temporary fix, but that's all that was needed. He didn't think._

_Because if he would, Saguru would have remembered that Kuroba-kun's fear of fish._

**...**

Thankfully, Kuroba-kun's stop struggling against him, but that didn't stop him from continuing to stare at Saguru. No matter, they just needed to get to shore.

"I know you didn't ask for this, and I'm sorry for that." He said, attempting to placate Kuroba-kun and apologize all in one. "If it helps, you can close your eyes," he felt the stare on him intensify. "I give you my word that I won't lead you astray, Kuroba-kun."

Saguru felt tugging and turned to look behind him. Then he realized why Kuroba-kun had been so quiet.

"You can speak," he told him. "The magic should allow you to do that." He could see Kuroba-kun's brows creased. "Kuroba-kun, if speaking would drown you, you would already be dead. I don't think you noticed that you've been breathing this entire time," and he hadn't, from how that information seem to startled him.

"Ha-" Kuroba-kun stopped. Possibly due to being unused to speaking underwater, while gills helped him breathe. Saguru tried not to get distracted by the flowy dorsal fin on Kuroba-kun's back that the cape had turned into.

"Hakuba," Kuroba-kun spoke again, "Hakuba, what... what did you do to me?" He said haltingly. Saguru felt guilt gnawing at him as he started swimming back towards the shore again.

**...**

_Pressing his lips gently against Kuroba-kun's, he breathed a little bit of his magic, his_ _**essence**_ _into him. Saguru pulled away slightly, opening his eyes to check if the transformation has taken place as it should. It did. White suit turned into white scales. Blue appearing where the shirt peeked through. Cape folded and formed into a long, flowing fin. And the monocle, became a part of the boy in front of him, a marking on his face. A mark that destroyed whatever form of plausible deniability Saguru had left. _

_It worked. He would live_.

**...**

"Breath of Life," he began, "I did what I had to to save you." Kuroba-kun continued to frown. "The effects are temporary, Kuroba-kun." Saguru answered the unspoken question. Knowing Kuroba-kun's fear, he assumed this must be the main concern that Kuroba-kun would have about this situation. "Once you are fully dried out, you will go back to being as you once were."

Silence.

But he wasn't fighting Saguru, so he took that as a good sign. He turned back around and sped up. The sooner Kuroba-kun gets to shore, the sooner he can go back to normal.

**...**

_Saguru began to drag Kuroba-kun's body in the direction of the shore. It was harder while he's unconscious, and not swimming along with Saguru. But the sooner he's out of the waters, the better._

_He can't help but wonder about whatever ridiculous luck Kuroba-kun seem to have, however. Of all the nights that he could have fallen into the deep depths of the ocean, Kuroba-kun did it on the night that he happened to be in the area. Even when Saguru wasn't present at the heist, it seemed that Kuroba-kun had found a way to involve him somehow._

_It wasn't something Saguru did very often. To go home all of a sudden, with little to no warning. But he'd been neglecting himself. Pouring himself over cases after cases, either out of interest or out of the need to help. When he finally closed all those cases, he was suddenly hit with a desperately strong sense of longing. All he could think about, could __**feel**__, was the call of the sea. _

_He needed to go __**home.**_

**...**

Finally, they were at shore. As Saguru started to pull Kuroba-kun up the shore, the magician realized where he was and started to pull his body out of the water himself. Seeing as his assistance was no longer needed, Saguru decided to stay in the shallow waters, resting his body against the cool sand.

When Kuroba-kun flipped onto his side, turning to look back at him, Saguru noticed that his expression was full of trepidation. He tried to smile reassuringly, though he doubt that would help. It didn't. He could see Kuroba-kun taking in his form, noting on the differences between how he looked while on land. His eyes never lingered on anything that looked too fish-like. When he finally spoke, Saguru couldn't help but worry that their fragile friendship might have changed forever.

"Hakuba... _what _are you...?"

* * *

Again, I plan to go back to expand on all of my fictober fics eventually, but I'll prob put priority to work on the ones that got the most interest first.

So if you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	5. Day 5

Day 5: "I might just kiss you."

Hakuba's got him cornered. He has to figure a way out of this.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

He dodged another tackle from the taskforce and picked up his pace. He was close. The room he needed to get to was in sight. Smirking, he thought to himself smugly that the detective might be losing his touch if he was able to get away this easily.

He slipped inside the room. One of the many offices in the building, indiscriminate to the others. The only difference was that this was one of the few rooms with west-facing windows, one wide enough for his hang glider. He made sure the close the door quietly before turning to make towards the windows.

But after a few steps into the room, he started to get the feeling of being watched...

"You're starting to get predictable, KID-san," the voice called out politely behind him from the shadowed corner of the room.

Ah, perhaps the detective hadn't lost his touch after all. KID turned around to taunt one of his most persistent detectives, after all the game wasn't lost yet. He was still in the room that provides the most ideal escape for him and said as such, when the teen detective informed him that the windows had been sealed with glue, courtesy of the very person standing in front of him.

Oh well, time to throw him off with a well placed, and perfectly outlandish comment.

"Hmmm, you should be careful tantei-san." KID started, catching the detective's attention, "you chase after me with the persistence of a lover... People will get the wrong idea, you know?" He teased, knowing this kind of comment will throw the teen off balance.

"Keep up with that comparison KID-san, and I might just kiss you." The detective replied with a smirk as he took a few steps in his direction.

_Wait... what?_

_Ok, wait, poker face's still on. Ok, ok? Ok, so they're going off the script. That's ok, he can improv._

He strode right up to the detective, pushing him back against the wall. All while wearing his ever present smirk.

"Careful tantei-san, or I might have to take up on your promise," he finished his retort inches from the detective's face. If he wanted to play, then he'll play.

The detective's eyes widened. Then all of a sudden, his face exploded in color. A bright red flush, as the detective closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to cover his face. Uh...?

"CUT!"

He startled. And backed off from Hakuba, letting the KID persona slide off him like water and continued to stare at the man in front of him. Kaito opened his mouth, about to ask his co-worker if he's ok when Hakuba mumbled out with his Kansai-ben, signalling that he was definitely out of character now.

"Kuroba-san... you can't just do that." Hands parted and Kaito looked back at the eyes staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Hakuba continued talking, "You know I'm not good with going off the script, please don't startle me like that." He pleaded.

_Wait a fucking second._

"Me? I'm the one who went off script?" Kaito said incredulously. Hakuba nodded shyly from behind his hands, face still red. He had to stare at his co-worker for a moment, before he couldn't hold it back anymore. "Dude, you're the one that went off the script! '_Keep up with that comparison KID-san, and I might just kiss you.'_ Remember that? 'Cos you said that, and last I checked, that wasn't in the script."

"What? Yes, it was." Hakuba finally removed his hands from his face, looking at him with puppy-like confusion. God, ok, he keeps forgetting the kind of whiplash Hakuba's actual personality in contrast to the detective's personality gives him.

"Uh... Hakuba-kun," the director spoke, interrupting their conversation and they turned to look at him. "Kuroba-kun's right, the line you said just now definitely wasn't in the script." The director confirmed what Kaito remembered from the lines he memorized. But it just made Hakuba more confused.

"What...? But, I swear it was in my script. That's what I memorized." Hakuba defended. "I can go and grab my script, if you'd like? But you know, I'm not very good with improv. I definitely didn't make up that line on the spot." And with that Hakuba ran off to wherever he put his script.

He was right though. Hakuba doesn't do improv. Not even when it would have been better for certain scenes for him to do so. Luckily, the guy was skilled enough to make all of his lines sound natural and believable.

Kaito took a look around the set as he puzzled about the weird change in Hakuba's script, when he saw. There, in the far corner, Aoko was hanging back with the other crew members and talking to them. Aoko, who definitely didn't need to be on set today... Not unless she had some other reason to be there. A reason unrelated to work. Like a prank, that she set up, being played out. Squinting at her, Kaito start making his way to his other co-worker, the considerably more troublesome one.

"Oi, Aoko, come over for a sec, I gotta talk to you." He called over to her. Gesturing for her to follow him to a private corner at the set.

"Yeah? What did you want to talk about?" Aoko asked. Like she didn't know, the little shit. He turned to look at her, no, to squint at her.

"Weren't you the one to make up the rule that we don't involve the shy ones in our prank war?" He asked, calling her out. It was a good rule, to be honest. Hakuba was usually too confused from the prank to know what's really going on, and was too nice to retaliate. But the main reason they agreed to this rule happened after the one time they both decided to go after Akako-chan... That was a bad decision, considering they all knew how shy that girl was. It ended with Akako-chan in tears, Hakuba being both confused and angry with them (as angry as someone like him could be), and Aoko and him agreeing to leave their nicer co-workers out of their prank war.

Aoko smirked at him smugly. Well, this can't be good.

"_Bakaito_, I said we shouldn't prank them. I never said that they won't be involved when I prank you." She said, with all the satisfaction of a cat that caught a canary. Oh, you little shit. Kaito felt his face getting a bit warm as he glared at Aoko.

"Kuroba-san!"

Kaito turned to the direction of the voice. Hakuba had a hand cupped at his mouth, while the other is up in the air, waving at him. Beside him was the director, looking down at what was probably Hakuba's script.

"I've brought the script!" Hakuba shouted over to him.

Sighing, Kaito turned back to glare at Aoko one last time. A mistake really, considering the smug look on her face. Then he walked back towards Hakuba, the director, and the set. Hakuba smiled at him. Poor, innocent Hakuba... getting dragged into their prank war because of Aoko's weird ideas.

Whatever, he would get back at her eventually.

* * *

(Shout out to ES on Twitter for being hella psychic and reminded me how much I like the backstage AU.)

Again, I plan to go back to expand on all of my fictober fics eventually, but I'll prob put priority to work on the ones that got the most interest first.

So if you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	6. Day 6

Day 6: "Yes, I'm aware. Your point?"

Saguru needed an outside perspective and some advice. Who better suited for the job, if not Hattori-kun?

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"Yes, I'm aware. Your point?"

A beat of silence.

"Dude."

Saguru sighed, lifting a hand up to massage his temples at the incredulous tone of Hattori-kun's response.

"My apologies. I shouldn't have snapped at you, Hattori-kun," he replied, surprised that the Osakan hasn't hung up on him yet. He could hear a sigh through his phone.

"Look," Hattori-kun started haltingly, "I get that this note is more annoying that the usual or something, but like, aren't you the KID expert here? What did kind of input did you think I was going to have?" It was a good question. A logical one. Unfortunately, Saguru wasn't quite sure what he was trying to accomplish when he called his fellow detective either.

"I think I was hoping that you notice something I've missed completely, thus showing me that the note was supposed to say something else entirely." He admitted. There was another pause. He's starting to wonder if he should've texted Hattori-kun instead.

"Hakuba, between the two of us, you're the KID expert here. I've only met him once, remember?" Hattori-kun reminded him. "If anyone could figure out the hidden meaning within the message of the note, it'd be you."

Saguru sighed. He was right. Of course he was. So much for asking for a second opinion. Even if he was hoping for the second opinion to call him stupid for making a dumb mistake misinterpretting the note. But if there was anyone he could trust to call him out on whatever loop his brain got stuck on, it was Hattori-kun. His friend was too unabashedly honest to not call him out, and honestly? That was the reason Saguru appreciate his friendship with Hattori-kun so much.

"Ok, ok, you're right-"

"Damn right, I am."

He chuckled. Perhaps he should pay a visit to Osaka and surprise Hattori-kun. It had been a while since they've last met. He'd missed the Osakan's presence.

"In that case," Saguru began, "then could I ask you for your opinion on a different topic?"

"Hm? Yeah? What about?" The Osakan asked, curiosity obvious in his voice.

"As you know, grew up in England for most of my life-"

"Oh man, I already regret this-"

"So, I was wondering if you could help me figure out some social etiquette in Japanese schools, because I feel like I'm missing something here." He finished his request, not letting Hattori-kun's interruption deter him. Hopefully his friend hasn't run out of patience yet.

"Why do I get the vibe that what you're about to tell me is something completely normal, or just absolutely not at all?" Hattori-kun asked with great trepidation. Which was an appropriate response really, considering the person Saguru had in mind for this particular discussion. Well, to be fair, they haven't exactly changed the subject... not that Hattori-kun will know about that.

"A classmate of mine have been behaving peculiarly towards me recently," he began explaining to Hattori-kun, leaning on his elbow as he enjoyed the view of the school campus below him. "We typically have a pretty antagonistic relationship, by which I mean that I would attempt to be friendly to this classmate, but it seems that they have no interest in being friends with me."

"No fucking surprise here." Hattori-kun commented. He continued on as if his explanation hadn't been interjected with commentary. Saguru knew what Hattori-kun thought of his brand of introduction and his method of befriending people. But they both got over it, and that isn't the issue at hand, so.

"In any case," he said, fiddling with the collar of his shirt as he spoke, "I've noticed that recently, this classmate has been... hmm... helpful?" He ended the sentence with a questioning tone. Honestly, he was at a lost as to what Kuroba-kun doing or thinking. He couldn't help but feel confused every time he thought back on Kuroba-kun's change in behavior.

"Well isn't that good? Means he's warmin' up to ya, isn't he?" Hattori-kun's suggestion made sense. Or it would if it wasn't for a particular fact.

"Well, I said they were helpful, questionably helpful. But they've been very clandestine about it, probably mostly because the things they've been helping me with hadn't been something that I was obviously visibly having trouble with. And next I know, the issue would have been resolved." Saguru recounted, trying to remember the different instance in which Kuroba-kun had assisted him in his quieter problems. "Mind you, I'm very grateful they helped out, but they always denied their part in it every time I tried to thank them. And continues to act antagonistically towards me as usual... well," he paused to think about it for a second. Maybe Kuroba-kun wasn't as unfriendly as he was in the beginning. He couldn't be quite sure of it, since maybe he had just gotten used to Kuroba-kun acting this way. "Maybe they've been less antagonistic? But it might be me just getting used to them." He added. Hattori-kun couldn't exactly help him if he didn't provide all the information.

There was silence.

Saguru held the phone away from his ear to check if Hattori-kun had hung up on him, but no, he was still connected.

"Hattori-kun...?"

"Dude..." Hattori-kun paused again. He was starting to get the feeling that the answer must have been very obvious and that it was something he shouldn't have missed.

"Yes?" He prompted Hattori-kun to continue.

"Hakuba, they have a crush on you, man."

...

He blinked.

"Hakuba? Oi! Don't ignore me!"

Well then, let it be known that there are times when Hattori-kun could be wrong as well.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	7. Day 7

Day 7: "No, and that's final."

In which Ran observe the strange mating dance between two birds of different species.

(This fic is unbeta'd.

Also, for more context, please go watch the entirety of the Long Long Man commercial series (yes, it's a series of ads, with a beginning and an end). Just... I can't describe the majesty of Long Long Man. It's something that needs to be experienced.

I fully blame my friend for the existence of this fic tbh.)

* * *

"No. No, I don't care what you say, I'm not doing it." Hakuba-kun said, objecting to Kuroba-kun's idea.

Ran lifted a hand to cover her mouth to muffle her giggles, it wasn't usual for her to see Hakuba-kun so irritated. Hattori-kun on the other hand, did nothing to hide his laughs at the scene playing out in front of them.

"Oh c'mon, you're perfect for the role!" Kuroba-kun insisted, still trying to get the blond detective to agree.

"What'd I miss?" Ran turned to her left as Shinichi sidled up to her, looking at the scene with curiosity.

"Kuroba-kun's trying to get Hakuba-kun to take part in a skit for a project of his, I think?" She told him. She wasn't quite sure what was happening in all honesty. She was just waiting at the meeting spot to meet with everyone with Kazuha-chan when the two came storming towards their location. Hakuba-kun leading, probably due to the fact that he was trying to get away from Kuroba-kun's ideas and just Kuroba-kun in general.

"Whatever it is, it's probably smart of Hakuba to refuse." Shinichi said in a deadpan tone. Oh, right, Kuroba-kun often drag Shinichi into his ideas as well. Hattori-kun moved towards them like he wanted to join in on the conversation.

"I dunno, Kudo," he paused to laugh a bit more. "I think it'd be pretty hilarious-"

"Oh for goodness' sake, Kuroba-kun, I was in England! Not an underground bunker! I know what Long Long Man is! No, I'm not playing as him, and that's final!" Hakuba-kun exclaimed suddenly. Or, well maybe not considering they've been at this for a while now.

Beside her and Shinichi, Hattori-kun burst out laughing, bowing and clutching at his sides. Ah... so... huh, well that wasn't what Ran thought the disagreement would be about. Although she would see why Hakuba-kun would refuse so adamantly. Shinichi started to chuckle softly beside her.

"Ok, I shouldn't have imagined that in my head," he said simply. But now the image of Hakuba-kun as Long Long Man is in her head now. Ran brought her hand up to her mouth again to muffle her laughs. She could see why Kuroba-kun would want him to play Long Long Man, kind of. Hakuba-kun does have this air of mystique around him.

"Aw, c'mon! It'd be perfect! I'll be the guy in the commercial and Aoko will play the guy's girlfriend/fiance lady. And you're Long Long Man!" Kuroba-kun was still trying to convince Hakuba-kun to-

Eh?

Ran looked at the two of them again. Kuroba-kun leaning up towards Hakuba-kun, not giving him any personal space, no matter how much he tried to back away. Hakuba-kun was blushing and looking dismayed. Or Embarrassed. Of what was happening, maybe of himself, but probably mostly of Kuroba-kun's thinly veiled confession.

She blinked.

Then she turned to look at Shinichi, just to see if she wasn't just imagining all this. Shinichi was still chuckling at them slightly with an amused expression. Probably sensing that she was looking at him, he turned to her.

"Hopeless, aren't they?"

Ran turned back to look at the bickering couple in front of her, and smiled.

"They'll figure it out! I'm sure of it!"

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	8. Day 8

Day 8: "Can you stay?"

Kaito stayed overnight at Hakuba's place. The morning brings a new day along with all it's challenges.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

The first thing Kaito was aware of as he woke up, was the fact that his pillow was escaping him. He tightened his grip on his pillow, and hugged it tighter.

It shook.

Something patted his arm, then something, a hand brushed at his hair. Before fingers sank into his hair to scratch at his scalp. Kaito hummed. This is nice. He felt himself relax as fingers scratched and massaged his scalp. He felt himself falling back to sleep.

**...**

**...**

**...**

The first thing Kaito thought when he woke up was the fact that the bed was too empty. He flapped his arm to the area beside him, patting at the empty space. It was cold.

Sighing, Kaito stretched against the bed, before opening his eyes.

He brought a hand up to rub at his eyes to chase the sleep away from them. Then he turned to look at the empty spot beside him.

... This wasn't his bed.

For half a second, Kaito almost felt a rush of panic before he remembered where he was. And why.

Kaito sat up and looked around the room. It didn't look as empty as he'd expected it to be, but he could tell that the essentials had been packed away from the empty spots in the room. The owner of the room was nowhere in sight. And neither were his luggages. He turned to tap gently at the clock on the bedside table. The digital screen activated at the motion to tell him that it was almost six. His heart lurched at the time. It was late.

"Hakuba?" He called out loudly. He knows that Hakuba wouldn't have left without saying goodbye, the guy was too well-mannered for that. But he couldn't help but feel the panic settle in him as the clock's screen blinks out again, conserving energy. If Hakuba was known for anything, it was his punctuality.

"Kitchen!"

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief at the distant call. He wasn't too late.

They still had time.

Gulping down his anxiety, Kaito got out of bed and sped his way through his morning routine, quickly changing into something decent and checking the level of his hair's messiness for a minute before running down to find Hakuba.

He found him puttering about in the kitchen, cleaning the dishes. Hakuba must have heard him coming down, as he turned to look at Kaito with a cheery smile.

"Hey, sorry I didn't wake you up. You looked like you needed more sleep," he said, wiping his hand at a dish towel nearby.

Kaito rolled his eyes. Hakuba didn't need to know how he reacted when he woke up by himself just now. Then he saw a plate of sandwiches on the table.

"Is that for me?" He asked, pointing at the plate. Hakuba nodded.

"Yeah, go eat," he said as he walked up to Kaito, gently reaching for his hands and squeezing them.

"G'morning," Hakuba said, smiling down at him.

Then he let go of Kaito's hands. Sliding his hands smoothly out of Kaito's reach. He scoffed and looked away, moving towards the sandwiches, not flustered from Hakuba greeting him via their usual way of showing affection. Not annoyed at all, that the blond continued to respect his comfort level and not going for a kiss, even now. Why should he be annoyed when Hakuba was doing everything right?

"Yeah, yeah, morning," he grumbled as he sat down, watching Hakuba move around the rooms carrying things here and there.

"Sorry I'm not eating with you," Hakuba apologized from the other room. "I'm doing last minute checks."

Kaito continued to eat his sandwich as he watched glimpses of Hakuba through the doorway. Hakuba caught him staring, and smiled at him during one of the trips. He turned and looked in the other direction.

"_...can you stay?" _

Kaito remembered Hakuba's request from last night. **The** last night. Kaito had spent half of his time with Hakuba yesterday being pathetic and the other half with his trusty poker face. When Hakuba had asked, he knew he couldn't say no. Not when Hakuba was looking so sullenly at the ground as he asked. Not when Kaito didn't want to leave either.

"Hey, I think I'm good to go." Hakuba poked his head out through the doorway to inform him. Kaito reminded himself to keep breathing.

"Yeah, ok."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Hakuba.

"Come see me off?" He asked, tilting his head in the puppy-like manner that he does sometimes.

Breathe, Kaito, breathe.

"Fine." He sighed, rolling his eyes. Hakuba smiled at him gratefully. "You just wanted someone to help carry the bags, didn't you?"

Misdirect him, Kaito, keep him distracted.

Hakuba barked out a laugh.

"Okay, you got me." He teased back at Kaito, nudging him with his elbow.

Kaito was reaching for one of the luggage (the smaller one obviously, Hakuba can carry the big one himself) when Hakuba grabbed his hands again.

Kaito turned to look at him. Perplexed, because what even is Hakuba trying to do _now?_ And Kaito had to hold his breath at the blond's expression.

Hakuba smiled at him. From his mouth to his eyes, his whole face was smiling at Kaito.

"Hey, I'll be back"

He was earnest. Honest. Too much for Kaito. Too opposite of Kaito. But that was fine. It made up for his own reluctance to open up.

Hakuba lightly squeezed his hands again.

"Thank you."

He turned away from Hakuba. Had to. He couldn't look at that honest face. So open, showing Kaito _everything._ He couldn't bear looking at the honest and genuine affection on Hakuba's face. Not right now.

Rolling his eyes, Kaito grabbed one of the luggage and made his way out the door. He could hear Hakuba chuckling behind him.

He could feel a piece of his heart break off, going to where it belonged, to Hakuba.

He gritted his teeth and pushed down the pang of loneliness already gripping at him and settling in the empty space that heart-piece left behind.

Poker face, he can't forget his poker face now.

A warm hand slid into his, twining their fingers together and squeezed lightly.

His poker face was cracking.

Damn him.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	9. Day 9

Day 9: "There is a certain taste to it."

Kaito just wants to find Hakuba so he can get the hell out of this place.  
(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"...ba-kun."

Kaito grumbled in his sleep. He didn't want to wake up yet.

"Kuroba-kun."

Kaito turned away from the voice bothering him. Maybe it would just go away and leave him alone.

"Kuroba-kun!" The voice shouted right in his ear, startling him awake.

Kaito sat up hastily and blinked as the took in where he was at.

"Kuroba-kun!" Hakuba yelled at him. Wait.

Kaito turned to look at Hakuba...? The suit wasn't unusual, but it was definitely fancier than the blond's usual style, what with the fancy gold embroidered waistcoat and matching vest and all. Not to mention the bunny ears. The bunny ears that seemed to be moving, possibly moving intentionally by Hakuba's command, turning this way and that. Like he was listening out for something...

_**What the fuck is going on?**_

Fingers snapped in his face. Kaito batted the fingers away. Frowning up at the owner of said fingers.

"Are you listening to me?" Hakuba scolded him, what the fuck. "We have to go! We're already so late!" Hakuba took a pocket watch out of his waistcoat pocket and open the face up to check the time. "Oh goodness! We're so late. Oh no no no, this isn't good, Kuroba-kun we have to hurry up! The Queen demands your presence!" Oh.

Oh.

_Oh._

_**Ohhhh!**_

Kaito looked down at himself as he got up, and yup. That's a light blue dress alright. Exactly in the style of Disney's Alice in the Wonderland. Huh. Guess that makes sense. He heard an impatient sigh from beside him and look up to see Hakuba turning away... Oh. Tail.

"You're not even listening, as usual. Just follow me, okay?"

He definitely wasn't listening. Wow, look at that tail go. That's a really fluffy tail. Oh! It moved! Hmmm, he wanna pet the tail... that looks really soft...

And the tail is moving away from him.

Noo! Tail! Come back!

Kaito realized that the tail was getting smaller because Hakuba was walking away without him. Because the tail was attached to Hakuba. Because it was Hakuba's tail. Right.

He started walking, following Hakuba to wherever the heck whatever queen is. He might as well go find out. It wasn't because he wanted to pet the tail or anything.

Nope, totally not because of the tail, not at all.

Kaito kept following Hakuba, ignoring the weird sensation of being watched as he did. If they were really being watched Hakuba would have noticed, no matter how distracted he was by the time. Since the rabbit hadn't said anything, he was probably imagining things. Suddenly, said rabbit turned to him.

"Okay, we're going to have to use a shortcut." Hakuba said resolutely. Kaito just nodded because ok, that made sense. They were late after all. "But you're going to need to stick to me ok?" The rabbit held his hand out to Kaito. So he grabbed onto the hand. Makes sense, Hakuba seemed to know the area well. Kaito should stick to him if he didn't want to get lost.

What Hakuba failed to mention was the fact that the shortcut was short, because it was a maze of moving paths. It wasn't a literal maze no, but it might as well be with how lost you can get when you don't know which path to follow. Which Kaito quickly found out when it turned out that he apparently wasn't on the same moving path as Hakuba. The moving paths literally tore them away from each other.

Fuck.

Well, how was he supposed to get out of this now?

He decided to keep moving. That was probably better than just sitting on the path and waiting for something to happen, right? Right.

It didn't make Kaito any less lost though.

He sighed. He really wished Hakuba was with him now. Especially since it was his fault that he was stuck here in the first place. That rabbit would probably know how to get him out.

As soon as he thought that, however, Kaito saw a bit of trail completely unconnected to the damned moving paths and quickly jumped onto it. He stood there for a while to check that it wasn't another moving path. It didn't move. He sighed in relief. After walking so much, he wanted to find a place to rest his feet a bit. Not that Kaito had any clue of where he was. Whatever. Maybe he could find someone nearby, and then he could find his way back to Hakuba again. Maybe.

After a while of walking on the path, Kaito could hear voices? Maybe music too? He picked up his pace, maybe they can help guide him to Hakuba.

He wasn't sure what he was expected to find, but he probably should have expected a tea party. Well, a party means people, which might mean Hakuba. Damn it, if that rabbit didn't go off without him Kaito wouldn't needed to run around looking for him.

Even though he really probably shouldn't be surprised anymore, he can't help but yell when he finally found the table that everyone was seated at, including Hakuba, sleeping with his head on the table, sitting beside-

"KID!?" Kaito cried out in confusion. At the head of the table was KID. White suit, monocle, top hat. His double had the full outfit. KID smirk at him.

"Ah! Welcome, welcome! We've been waiting for you!" KID said cheerfully, before beckoning him to come closer. Which he did, but only so he could check on Hakuba. He was pretty awake and energetic when Kaito last saw him. Clearly something happened here. "You must be the one Saguru's been searching all over for!" As KID said that, he placed a hand on Hakuba's head and start to pet the rabbit. Hakuba seemed to lean into the touch. What.

"What did you do to him!?" Kaito asked KID accusingly. Something happened and clearly it was in KID's favor considering how handsy he's being with Hakuba. KID just kept smirking.

"Oh relax, he just had some tea. See?" KID gestured to the teacup in front of Hakuba, which was empty. Actually, weren't all the teacups empty? Before Kaito could get distracted by that thought, KID continued. "He must have been so tired if he fell asleep so easily." KID was still smirking. By the end of this conversation, Kaito's going to be tired of looking at his own face. Why the hell does he look so fucking smarmy?

"Nnng... Hatter...?"

Kaito turned to look at Hakuba, who was blinking and rubbing at his eyes as he sat back up. Hakuba wasn't looking at him though. He was looking at KID. Who put his hands under his chin and leaned forward towards Hakuba. The smarmy bastard was still smirking.

"Yes, Rabbit?"

Jeez, does he sound that smarmy at his heist? Kaito hoped he doesn't sound like that. Hakuba looked like he was still waking up, wobbling slightly at his seat. Wait...

"What happened?" Hakuba asked childishly. Because he was a child. What. In the span of Kaito's short banter with KID, Hakuba had shrunken down to the size of a 7-year-old child. What the fuck.

"You fell asleep after trying out a new brew of mine." KID said, kindly...? After seeing the shady looking smirk for so long, Kaito had whiplash at seeing KID smile gently at Hakuba. The answer startled Hakuba into wakefulness.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" He apologized, looking genuinely regretful. What the fuck. KID just shook his head and pat at his lap. What. What the fuck? Apparently, that was a signal for Hakuba to get into his lap because that's exactly what the rabbit did. What the child molesting fuck is happening here?

Kaito was just about to voice his objection and confusion when KID spoke again, while petting the rabbit. Who apparently was fine with it from how he contently snuggled up against KID. What the fuck?

"Well? Did you like it?"

Hakuba nodded, eyes closed, looking like he's enjoying the petting. Kaito, on the other hand, was feeling very disturbed.

"Hmmm, I think so? There was a certain taste to it. I would have to try more before I can decide, Hatter-san."

Kaito couldn't hold it anymore.

"HE DRUGGED YOU! DUDE? DID YOU NOT NOTICED THAT YOU FELL ASLEEP AND SHRANK AFTER YOU DRANK THE TEA?"

Kaito heaved after yelling at the two. Both of whom were staring at him like he was the weird one here. Hakuba tilted his head, before opening his mouth.

"...un"

What?

"What?" Kaito asked, confused. He couldn't hear what Hakuba was saying. Hakuba open his mouth again.

"...kuba-kun"

"Hakuba, what are you saying?" Kaito tried to move closer so he can hear what Hakuba was saying. Only to realize that he couldn't move. Kaito looked down, but he couldn't see. Why can't he see?

"Kuroba-kun!"

Kaito startled and snapped his eyes open before shutting them again at the sun's bright rays. He scowled and grimaced at the after image of the sun in his mind.

"Finally! Kuroba-kun, we have to go now if we don't want to be late to class, come on." Hakuba scolded, placing a hand on his shoulder to shake him lightly. But the shaking motion wasn't what got Kaito to snap up and get up. It was Hakuba's words.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?" Hakuba asked, moving his had to check his face. Trying to find reason for Kaito to be staring at him.

No bunny ears.

Okay, good, that was a dream. Oh thank fuck that was all a dream.

* * *

I usually say that I plan to edit or expand the fics I posted in this series, but I don't really have any ideas for this one. So I probably (by that I mean definitely) won't be expanding or editing this fic.


	10. Day 10

Day 10: "Listen, I can't explain it, you'll have to trust me."

Kuroba-kun was bleeding and Saguru's running out of time

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Warm lifeblood seeped through Saguru's hands and soaked into the edges of his shirt sleeves. He pressed harder, more tightly against the gaping wound in KID's torso, sniffling. His throat burned. He needed help.

"Kuroba-kun." He called the boy lying in front of him. "Kuroba-kun, please stay with me." Saguru hiccuped slightly as he tried to urge to boy lying in front of him to wake up. Of course, he received no response. Kuroba-kun had been unconscious for a while now. The bleeding wasn't slowing down. He wasn't equipped for this.

'Help me, please.'

He closed his eyes, focusing on that thought.

The door opened. Saguru snapped his eyes opened as well and whipped his head around to find an old man at the door. He looked at the older man through blurry eyes, trying to figure out if he was friend of foe. The man looked past him to the figure below, horror etched on his face.

"Botchama..?"

Friend then.

"I need you to stand guard and make sure no one else come through that door," Saguru commanded KID's assistant. At least, he assumed that's who the man was. The man whipped his head around, finally noticing Saguru's presence. Suddenly fear turned into distrust. Understandable, but now was not the time. Saguru continued before the man had a chance to object.

"Listen, I can't explain it, but I need you to guard the door." Saguru said. Knowing that this wouldn't be enough to convince the man, he continued. "He's dying." He emphasized, the man flicking his eyes towards Kuroba-kun before looking at him again. Saguru tried, one last time, to convince the man.

"He's dying, and we don't have much time left," he paused, sniffling as the burning sensation in his throat got too much, too tight. "You'll have to trust me."

The man still looked at him doubtfully.

"Please."

His voice cracked. With that, the man's doubt cracked too, as he turned his back towards them. Keeping watch of the door.

"And you can save him? You'll save him?"

The man asked, desperation in his voice.

"I have to. I'm the only chance he has." Saguru replied.

Before he let the feeling consume him.

'Please, save him.'

...

'I need your help, please.'

Saguru thought desperately.

...

He hunts us.

Saguru shook his head as his sniffles grew into sobs.

'No. No, he's protecting us.'

How could you know?

The flames in his head grew too intense as he began to hiccup his sobs as well. Yet, tears refused to fall from his eyes.

'I trust him.'

He replied simply.

...

.

And I, you.

Saguru's last coherent thought was that of relief, of gratitude, of fire. Before it consumed his insides and spread throughout his body. He let out an ugly sob as he bows over his hand, shoulders shaking, trembling as he continued to cry on Kuroba-kun's wounds. Tears flowing freely from his eyes.

'Please let this be enough.'

Saguru thought as he gasped for breath in between his sobbing. Gasped for breath through the intense heat filling up his body. Gasped like he could barely breathe.

He cried.

...

When Kaito opened his eyes, the first thing he could see were bright fiery eyes. So bright and alight, he swore he could see live fires dancing in the shape of a bird in the red glow of them.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	11. Day 11

Day 11: "It's not always like this."

Saguru's having more trouble adjusting to Japan after moving back from England.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Kaito wondered, as he sat on the bed in the room they rented at the love hotel, if Hakuba realized that they were on a date.

His date(?) was standing by the window, looking out as he tried to dry his hair with a towel. Tried being the keyword, as Kaito watched an escaped drop of water drip from the side of Hakuba's face, down his neck, and going under the edge of his shirt collar. Kaito followed the imagined trail that the drop would have gone, his eyes trailing down Hakuba's slightly damp white shirt.

Okay, maybe renting a room at a love hotel was a bad idea. Considering Hakuba might not even know that they were on a date.

Kaito tried to focus on drying his own hair, and not trying to stare through the translucent patches on Hakuba's shirt. Well, not stare _too_ much. He was going to stare a bit. It wasn't like he'd had a lot of chances to see a disheveled Hakuba recently. He noticed the fabric shifting slightly, and looked up a bit. Only to get distracted by the vague outlines of Hakuba's back muscle moving. Huh.

At the window, his date (maybe? hopefully?) sighed. Removing the towel from his blond hair to put it around his neck. Oh, well that view's blocked now. Kaito looked at the mussed up mess of a bedhead Hakuba has right now, when the blond turned to look at him.

Oh, oh no, man, it really was a bad idea for him to be in a love hotel with Hakuba right now when the detective looked like _that_.

"I don't know why I was so surprised by this turn of events." Hakuba said tiredly, leaning against the window.

Kaito blinked. Then focused on looking at Hakuba in the face. Like he should in polite conversation. Not that Hakuba would expect that out of him, but hey, they were on a date (well, maybe). He was supposed to impress.

"Wait, what?" Kaito replied, confused. Because that sounded like Hakuba was blaming him for the storm that's currently trapping them in the love hotel right now. Which, well, okay, if he had that kind of power, he'd probably use it to do that. But it wasn't Kaito's fault that a typhoon is ruining their date(?), ok? Well, okay, it might have been his fault that he didn't really check the weather and saw cancelled train routes as a challenge to take alternative (aka, longer) routes to each of their destinations. It wasn't his fault that he saw spending more time with Hakuba as a bonus, okay? Clearly Hakuba didn't mind, or he would have said no, which he didn't. Which probably meant this was a date? Maybe? Please?

"Japan and natural disasters." Hakuba answered his confusion. Which. Uh. "They're pretty synonymous which each other. I honestly don't know how I forgot." He said, as he brought a hand up to rub at his temples.

"Ok," Kaito began, feeling the sudden urge to defend his, their country out of nowhere. "It's not always like this. It was just bad planning on my part. I forgot about all the typhoon warnings." Kaito defended.

This wasn't where or how he thought their stay at the love hotel would go, but this is probably a preferable option considering the kind of things he was focused on before this conversation started.

"You have a typhoon _**season**_," the blond put emphasis on the 'season.' Kaito was starting to wonder if he was missing a point or two. Probably seeing his blank face, Hakuba continued. "Kuroba-kun, I'm from London." Kaito nodded, yes, he knew that. "The worse we get is some heavy rain and flooding. Which I guess feels similar to this." Yeah. "But I know for a fact that I've felt at least 10 different quakes since I moved here."

Kaito stared, waiting for Hakuba to continued. But he didn't.

"And...?" He asked. He felt like there was something else that he was missing.

"Kuroba-kun, I've lived in London for almost 10 years and I've never felt earthquakes, _ever_."

"That's weird." He replied, almost automatically.

Hakuba huffed, looking frustrated.

"No, it's not. Ever since I moved here I feel like I've been standing on an unsteady platform," the blond complained.

"Okay, I think you're exaggerating this now." He replied skeptically.

Hakuba sighed, then pushed off of the wall and walked over to the bed. Flopping down face first onto it, right beside him.

"I'm not." Hakuba mumbled into the bed before turning his face to Kaito. "Do you know when this will end?" He asked in a petulant tone, one cheek squished against the bed. That was kind of adorable, actually.

"Hakuba, I rented this for the whole night for a reason." He said plainly.

Hakuba squinted at him. What. What was he squinting for?

"Don't think that I didn't know where we are, Kuroba-kun." Hakuba said, still not moving an inch from his current position. Wait. "I'm still trying to figure out if you have ulterior motives in choosing this location as our respite from the storm."

Uh.

Kaito felt himself sweating slightly.

Well, guess Hakuba figured out that they were on a date after all.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	12. Day 12

Day 12: "What if I don't see it?"

Saguru thinks about soulmates and science.

no, seriously, this whole thing is just him thinking

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Saguru studied the lab report as he waited for class to begin. He'd been waiting to look over the results for a while now. Not that his results took that long to be analyzed. But it did take a while to gather a group of people, take samples, analyze those samples, and compile them all together in one report for comparative purposes. If it wasn't for the fact that he was the one who suggested Hakuba Lab take a look into this area of science to study and research, as well as being part of the research team, he probably wouldn't be allowed to use these data to compare to his own. Or bring them to read at school. He stared at the results.

"_What if I don't see it?"_

He remembered asking the question to his mother when he first learned about the existence of colorblindness as a genetic disorder, specifically achromatopsia or total color blindness. And not as the default state of being before meeting one's soulmate. He'd been worried. What if he'd met them, but couldn't tell because he was colorblind? What if he accidentally reject them? What if someone took advantage of his colorblindness and lied about being his soulmate? What about all the colorblind people out there? How did they find their soulmates?

His mother laughed softly and gently reassures him that there were other ways to be able to tell. As she combs her fingers through his hair, she told him that it wasn't just the ability to see color that signals the meeting of one's soulmate. Things like smell, hearing, the quickening of your pulse, these were all the things that happened as well. Color just happened to be the most obvious ("eye-catching" she'd said, winking at him as he groaned at her pun) signal.

While reassured, it never really stopped him from thinking about it. While total color blindness was very uncommon, there were people out there who live with it. Wouldn't it help? If they'd known of their condition before meeting their soulmate? That way, people can learn of what other signals and symptoms to take notice when one looked at their soulmate in the eyes for the first time.

So the research project began. Born out of his childish curiosity and desire to just _help_. It took time. With how uncommon this condition is, their sample size were pretty small. So the project was slow, but steady as it collected more and more data from various sources. Thinking of new ways to approach the topic and realizing what other data they could collect to further study this. Saguru enjoyed studying the data and learning from them. Looking to see how it will all build up into something that could be of use to the general public. He didn't really think of applying it to himself, even if he did give samples to the research. To see what things looked like before a person meet their soulmate. He was just curious. That's all. That was his only reason for this particular interest.

That was until he moved back to Japan.

He was grateful that his mother had been so observant of her own meeting with his father. Of all the other sensation she experienced when she first laid eyes on him. Because without that knowledge, Saguru wouldn't have thought much about how he could very clearly hear the turbulent winds from outside the building as he looked at KID.

He could feel his heart beating faster, feel every nerve in his body light up, the sensation sending sparks throughout his body, could _smell_ the frigid winter air.

He looked closely to see any changes in expressions or emotions on KID's grey face.

Of course, there wasn't any. KID was known for his poker face. His ability to remain unperturbed. To remain calm against all odds.

Saguru wanted to think it was the adrenaline. Heightening his senses, putting them into overdrive.

But that didn't explain how he could hear Nakamori-keibu from the different side of the building while staring up at KID. It didn't explain how he could smell the flowers from a nearby flower shop, one he would eventually pass as Baaya drives him back from the scene, over two hundred meters away from where he was.

It didn't explain why Kuroba-kun had watched him so closely when he was transferred to the class, despite his choice to keep his distance from Saguru. It didn't explain what Saguru now realized to be a hurt expression on Kuroba-kun's face when he asked to accompany Aoko-san to her concert. It didn't explain why, after so many months have passed, Kuroba-kun never approached him after taking so much interest in him.

Of course, he submitted another sample to be analyzed right after his meeting with KID. It was a hunch, but his mother was rarely wrong.

Saguru lifted his arm so he could rest his face on the palm of his hand while looking at his results, positive for achromatopsia, and sighed.

It was hard enough that his soulmate was probably KID, but no, he had to be colorblind as well. Between conflict of interest and lack of reaction to the sudden ability to see color, he could see why Kuroba-kun kept observing him. Why KID seem to be watching for some kind of reaction from him, always. Saguru could already feel a headache building as he wondered what he's supposed to deal with the mess that was his life, when-

_**Pop!**_

The noise startled him out of his trance as he looked up, only to get a box of Pocky shoved in his face. He blinked and took it before the hand could shove it more aggressively into his face. Then looked up higher to stare at Kuroba-kun questioningly. Who... had already swiped the lab report from his table to look through.

"What is it that you're reading that's got you so caught up in some melodramatic mood to the point that you ignored Aoko?" Kuroba-kun asked, expressing his curiosity, judgement, and taunts all in one go.

"Just a lab report from a project I'm working on with the Lab, Kuroba-kun," he replied tiredly, opening the box of Pocky gifted to him. Bought for him, because he knew for a fact that Kuroba-kun did not care for the strawberry flavor, which was Saguru's favorite.

"Uh huh, yeah? And?" Kuroba-kun continued to flip through the report. Saguru can't tell if he was actually reading, skimming the report or just flipping to look like he was. Keep up the nosy classmate act while not actually intruding on Saguru's private business.

"Well, I know for sure now that I have total color blindness," he said lightly as he watched Kuroba-kun closely for a reaction.

There. A stutter of movement when he went to flip another page of the report. Then flipping the whole thing back to the first page, eyes moving quickly before tossing it back in Saguru's direction.

Maybe he was just overthinking. Maybe he was looking too deeply into the meaning of things. Maybe he was just a boy with a crush being too hopeful. Maybe was right.

Kuroba-kun looked like he was about to move back to his desk, looking like he'd lost interest when it was the exact opposite if the intense look in his eyes meant anything. Saguru didn't let it end there.

"I was thinking that it must be quite sad for my soulmate, to see that I had no reactions about all the colors visible, should we meet," he said, looking at Kuroba-kun, who'd stop walking to listen to him. "I'm worried that it might look like I've rejected them, even if I didn't mean to."

For a moment, it seemed as if his words had turned Kuroba-kun into an incredibly life-like statue. Then, as if he was cracked open, released from his stone-like confines, Kuroba-kun relaxed.

"Haa?" He turned to look at Saguru with an annoyed expression on his face. "Aren't you overthinking this a bit much?" Kuroba-kun punched him lightly in the arm. He looked awkward. All open and exposed in front of Saguru. Behind the annoyance was worry. Saguru smiled up at him.

"You're probably right, Kuroba-kun."

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	13. Day 13

Day 13: "I never knew it could be this way."

Kaito might know where he is, but he can't figure out how the fuck he got here.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Kaito was fucked.

He cautiously walked through Tokyo. Luck was on his side considering that he was currently in his pre-heist outfit. Black shirt and pants, discrete, plain, invisible. Just what he needed right now. At least until he could figure out how he got here, when he was just leaving his house literal seconds ago.

He was a skilled magician. And he had performed a teleportation trick before, but this was pushing it.

"Aoko, is Saguru at the station right now?"

Kaito whipped his head around to find the speaker, only see ...himself? Except it wasn't, that wasn't him. The guy's hair was shorter? No, it was just cut and styled differently. The stranger was talking on his phone.

"Oi oi, I'm not going to head over to bother him at work, that's your job." The man moved his phone away from his ear suddenly. Probably because the other person was yelling at him. Kaito took note of the man's outfit. Long light blue cardigan, on top of a graphic white t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

It didn't help Kaito figure out who this man could possibly be. Or why the man was familiar with two people who had the exact same names as his friends. So he followed the man.

This was the first and only clue he had to where he was, how lucky. Kaito wasn't about to was that luck.

"Look, I'm just calling because I thought I saw Saguru, okay?" There it was again. It probably wasn't the "Saguru" that Kaito knew. But still, it wasn't very common to see guys call other guys by their first name. Unless...

Heat rushed to his face.

Kaito shook his head vigorously, dispelling that errant thought. He brought his hands up to pat at his face, hoping to get rid of his ridiculous blush.

Focus. Now was not the time to daydream about...

"Oh, so he's out?"

Kaito let the man's conversation distract him from his own thoughts and kept following the man as he watched him walk into a ...flower shop?

He slowed down to a stop and leaned against the wall next to the shop, and waited. Kaito contemplated if he should go in, but no... that would definitely get him caught out... so would standing here right next to the shop actually. Looking around, he found a shaded area up ahead, and used this opportunity to walk pass the flower shop and look inside.

The man wasn't really doing anything suspicious, it looked like he was paying for the flowers already. So either this flower shop trip was planned, or he ordered something very basic and easy to put together. And as expected, the man walked out of the shop a few minutes later holding a bouquet and began walking in the direction that he came from. Kaito followed him.

Really, this could all be a waste of time, but it wasn't like Kaito had any clue of how to fix his current dilemma. Besides, the strange man and those names were the only thing familiar to him in this... place.

In front of him, the man lifted his hand up like a greeting, but Kaito was immediately distracted by the glinting light. A ring. A wedding ring. Oh, guess the flowers should have made that obvious to Kaito. Guess the man felt spontaneous?

"Saguru!"

Kaito tried to look and see who the man was calling out to, when he saw.

Turning towards Kaito, towards the man, was Hakuba Saguru.

Shit.

Kaito felt himself gasp quietly as he stared. It _**had**_ to be Hakuba. _**It had to**_**.** Kaito knew that set of shoulders, knew that jawline, knew that curly blond hair.

He didn't know that Hakuba would get that much taller or bigger.

There was no hiding the fact that he was definitely blushing from the heat radiating from his face, nor the fact that he was definitely ogling at an older version of Hakuba.

'_The future. I'm in the future.'_

He thought to himself distractedly as he continued to stare at Hakuba.

The blond blinked in surprise.

"Kaito?"

He gasped, then realize that _**he**_ wasn't the Kaito that Hakuba was talking to.

"Surprise~!" The man Kaito had been following, his future self, said. He sounded happy, Kaito thought to himself distantly.

Of course he would be, Hakuba was calling him by his name. What's not to be happy about? Kaito felt a slight pang in his heart, and ignored it. He refused to be jealous of himself, even if it was a future version of himself.

He walked towards a nearby alley to watch the interaction unfold. There was no need for him to hear what they were saying. He just needed to figure out how to get back, and he could just do that by cornering himself for information later. That didn't stop him from watching though.

The man, Kaito dubbed him as Kuroba in his head, gave the bouquet to Hakuba. Who blushed at the gift, but smiled as he accepted them, bringing them up to smell them. White carnations, that's what Kuroba got. Sweet and lovely. Innocent love. Kaito felt himself blush again. He kept watching.

Watched as they smiled sweetly to each other.

Watched as Kuroba probably cracked some joke.

Watched as Hakuba laughed in response.

Watched as Hakuba brought a hand up to brush at Kuroba's hair. Watched the light glint off of a ring on his finger. A wedding ring, Kaito realized.

He stop watching.

Kaito turned to look in the alley he was hiding in, feeling his face crumble into a scowl. Maybe this wasn't the future after all. Maybe it was some weird dream, or some illusion.

"There you are, I thought I saw you heading this way," a familiar voice said nearby. Kaito whipped his head around to find himself, staring down at him.

"What?" The question slipped out, but Kuroba wasn't paying attention to him, looking up and down at him.

"Hold on, let me call Akako." Akako? "It was her fault we got stuck in the future. She fixed it when it happened to me, so she can fix it for you too." Kuroba said, and Kaito was struggling to catch up.

"Are you... are you saying you've done this before?" Kaito stared at him in confusion, but Kuroba was already talking to Akako. Not that he had to wait long, it only took a couple of sentences, most of which was Kuroba complaining at Akako and blaming her for this problem. Then he turned back to Kaito.

"Hm? Did you say something just now?"

He looked happy... content, Kaito thought.

"I said, asked, if you've done this before. Did you travel to the future before?" He repeated the question.

"Well, yeah of course. You're here, aren't you?"

"That's not-"

"Possible?" Kuroba interrupted him. The older man took half a step back and looked at him again. "Y'know, I don't blame you for thinking that." Kuroba said serenely, then his face shifted. Turning from calm to _soft_**. **A gentle smile fitting itself perfectly on his future self's face. "I never knew it could be this way either," Kuroba spoke again, "but it did. I don't regret a single bit of it."

Kaito felt nervous for the first time after getting transported here. Gulping to wet his dry throat.

"H-how?"

Kuroba knew what he was asking.

How did it happen? How did he get to this point of contentment and happiness in his life? What did Kaito have to do to achieve it?

Immediately, Kuroba's content smile transformed into a familiar cutting smirk.

Then he was back, standing right outside his house.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	14. Day 14

Day 14: "I can't come back."

Death changes a person,

and Kaito needs to accept that Saguru isn't the person that he used to be.

Not anymore.

_yes, *that* star guardian. yes, based on *that* video._

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

He didn't feel much when the Darkness brought him back. That wasn't to say that he didn't feel anything at all. Rather, Saguru felt a specific list of emotions. And he felt them all _**intensely**_.

Anger at being abandoned by his so-called teammates.

Bitterness for being left for dead.

Betrayed that no one came to save him, no matter how much he cried out for help. For someone, _anyone_, to save him. Not even Kaito.

So really, could anyone blame him for taking so much pleasure and enjoyment in going after them? Attacking them, hitting as hard as he could. His replacement wasn't even that strong, my, my.

Guess Akako couldn't be too picky after losing her heaviest hitter. Having anyone join the team would probably be better than leaving the gaping hole of his death empty.

Saguru felt a twinge of something when he faced Kaito. It was probably betrayal. And satisfaction in seeing the growing horror in his face as he saw exactly what Saguru had become.

Good. After all, _**he** _was the one to leave Saguru for dead.

But of course, they had a plan to counteract against the fact that they were going up against him. _Of course_, the new kid had to be a shapeshifter. Before he realized that it wasn't Vermouth behind him. Before he could see the new kid going into her Ultimate, aiming to disrupt and break the team's formation. Before he could respond to anything, he was out.

...

...

...

Surprisingly, nothing hurt when he woke up. He was still in the wreck of the shrine. Groaning, he pushed himself to sit up, bringing a hand to massage his temples. That's when he noticed.

He looked down at himself, at his outfit. Brilliant white, shining gold, and bright red, accented with glittering pink detailing every bit of his Star Guardian outfit.

_But he's not a Star Guardian, not anymore._

He turned to look at his feathers. They gleamed gold, shining with the power of the First Light. Hope.

And confusion, and pain, and hurt, and ... _love_.

Watson squeaked to his left and he turned to look, seeing a figure in midnight blue and purple lying, crumpled on a pile of rubble. He gasped.

Horror.

**_"No!"_**

He rushed over to Kaito's fallen figure, tears spilling over.

Pain. So much pain as he watched the very power that brought him back to life, that corrupted him, spread itself over his mate. Saguru placed his hands on Kaito and began to shake him, trying to get him to wake up. This was wrong. Kaito, his beautiful white feathers... This was all wrong. No no no

"No no no no, Kaito, wake up!" He cried desperately. Reaching up, he cradled Kaito's face with his hands. "Kaito... Kaito, you showy idiot, what did you _**do?**_"

That was when Kaito woke up, blinking tiredly at him.

"Hey beautiful," he smirked up at Saguru. But he wasn't in the mood for this.

"Kaito, _what_ did you _do_?" Saguru pressed for an answer. Maybe it was a new ability, but that was unlikely.

"I saved you," Kaito said seriously, lifting a hand up to cup his face. Saguru lifted his own to hold the hand, leaning into it, closing his eyes to savor this moment. "I healed you, Saguru, like I always do."

Saguru shook his head.

"No, that's not it. Whatever it was that you did, it wasn't healing." He looked at Kaito. "Tell me what you did."

"They got your colors wrong..." Kaito said passingly, he was trying to avoid telling him. Saguru remained silent. Kaito looked at him, resignation etched on his face. "They got it wrong, so I took it. I figured that's how they were keeping you. I figured, maybe if I took it, you'll come back to us. To me."

He gasped, feeling the horror set in.

"I can't lose you." He said gravely. "Not again."

Saguru shook his head as he bowed over Kaito's body.

"Give it back." He whispered.

"What?" Kaito sounded confused. He shouldn't be. This was obviously the only way to save him.

"Give it back, Kaito." He looked up tearfully at his mate. "You have to give it back to me," Kaito started to shake his head. "Listen to me! Look at yourself!" He said harshly.

Saguru's always been annoyed at Kaito's willingness to throw his own safety away when it came to him. Up until the point when Saguru desperately needed it.

"Kaito you can't hold on to it, it's eating you alive!" He reasoned with him. Kaito looked at him blearily, shaking his head slightly. At this rate, Kaito was going to pass out from the Darkness's corruption. Maybe that was what he needed... Maybe once Kaito's out, he could take it back... And Kaito would be safe again.

He gently brushed the hair at Kaito's temples, and pressed his forehead against Kaito's.

"I can't see you hurt like this." He told him.

"Then you should understand why I'm doing this." Kaito gasped out, but he was barely conscious now.

He leaned over Kaito again, pressing his forehead against Kaito's, eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes again, Kaito's remained closed. Good. He can't fight against this if he wasn't awake to stop Saguru. He placed his hands on Kaito's chest and closed his eyes, trying to focus on the energy of the Darkness in Kaito. The one that was inside him.

It wasn't healing. Which meant there was a chance he could do the same thing, and save Kaito from corruption. It was Darkness that resurrected him. Surely the Darkness in Kaito could recognize that, and return to him.

Saguru hissed, suddenly feeling pain. He opened his eyes slightly to see that it was working. He watched, winching in pain as he does so, Darkness recede from Kaito's figure and up his arms. Back to him. Back where it belongs.

It hurt.

It hurt as Darkness took its place inside him again. It hurt as he felt his Light go out again. All that magic, and hope, and love. Gone.

It felt like he was dying all over again.

...

...

...

"Nng.." Kaito groaned as he woke up. He brought a hand up to clutch at his head. What happened...

The sound of footsteps paused to his right. Kaito peeked in that direction through his fingers, only to see Saguru's back turned towards him. Head turned slightly to look at Kaito.

"Saguru!" He called out, when he realized that Saguru's colors were all wrong once again. He felt himself paled as he looked down. White...

It... didn't work?

No. No, he remembered now. He remembered waking before. Saguru crying over him as he demanded Kaito to tell him what he did. Kaito turned to him, reaching weakly towards his mate, his soul.

"Saguru-"

"I'm not going back." Saguru interrupted him.

"What..?" Kaito asked, dumbfounded as he watched Saguru made all his fears come true.

"I'm not- I can't, Kaito. I'm not a Star Guardian anymore."

"Yes, you are!" He argued back.

"Don't come after me again!" Saguru turned away from him. His voice sounded desperate, pleading Kaito to do as he asked.

No. No, please no. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, this was all wrong.

Saguru turned his head again, only just enough to look back at him.

"I can't come back ...my love."

Then Saguru stepped through the portal, going out of reach once more.

"No!" Kaito yelled desperately after him. But it was too late. Saguru was gone. He's lost him. Again.

Kaito fell back on to the rubble as he let himself cry. Anguish twisting his heart inside as he felt like he's lost a part of his soul again. His left hand, clutching tightly around Saguru's broken Star Guardian Gem.

Once again, he'd failed to save the one person he loved most.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	15. Day 15

Day 15: "That's what I'm talking about!"

Really, Saguru only had himself to blame for being stupid enough to accepting Kuroba-kun's dare.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Saguru did a slow turn, a full circle turn, as Kuroka-kun instructed, doing his best to not embarrass himself any further. Not that it helped, going from how Kuroba-kun whistled as he watched and observe the outfit he was currently wearing.

To be honest, he only had himself to blame. Saguru didn't know what else he expected from taking a dare from Kuroba-kun. But being made to dress up in a maid outfit definitely was not out of the norm when it comes to the kind of things Kuroba-kun does to embarrass him.

"Ooooh! You're even wearing the garter belt! Good!" Kuroba-kun said while he stared at his legs. Specifically at the ends of his dress that was barely covering edge of his stockings.

Saguru self-consciously tugged at the hem of the dress, feeling himself blush more from Kuroba-kun's comment and staring.

"I was under the impression that I was supposed to wear the entire outfit that you gave to me." He said uncomfortably, hoping that he didn't accidentally made even more of a fool of himself.

"And did you?" Kuroba-kun asked, lifting his eyebrow up. Elbows on knees as he leaned forward from where he sat on the bed. Saguru was pretty sure Kuroba-kun's expression was supposed to be a smirk and not a leer. And it would be, if he couldn't feel how intensely Kuroba-kun stared, looking Saguru up and down.

He couldn't say that he's never been objectified before, because he had. But he's never had it done to him in such a shamelessly and blatantly obvious way before.

"Yes," he answered, really hoping that Kuroba-kun wasn't about to ask him to prove it.

"Yes...?" Kuroba-kun trailed out.

Realizing what the magician wanted from him, Saguru sighed. Closing his eyes, and tried to not die from embarrassment.

"Yes... master.." he could feel himself flushed harder as he said the word.

"That's what I thought," Kuroba-kun said. And he could hear from how smug he sounded, that the magician must have looked like a cat that got the cream.

He shifted his feet.

"So-" he began, wanting to ask if that's all and if he could take the outfit off and go home already when Kuroba-kun interrupted him.

"Let's go to the kitchen! I want you to make omurice for me!" He said, walking pass Saguru and out the room. Leaving him to follow Kuroba-kun down the stairs.

...

It wasn't that he didn't know how to cook, or didn't know how to cook omurice specifically. He didn't exactly have much choice. Living in London when so much of the food that you love was so far away, or just way overpriced. It was hard.

Omurice was one of the things he could make that didn't cost an arm and a leg to make. All the ingredients were pretty easy to find over on that side of the world. So this became one of Saguru's comfort foods, something to make when he missed home a little too much, but definitely wasn't in the mood to go out and get whichever overpriced authentic Japanese food.

That said, it was a lot harder to focus when you can feel eyes staring at him while he worked. It certainly didn't help that he was very aware of how short the dress was, and could probably guessed exactly _where_ Kuroba-kun was staring. Sighing, he plated up the omurice and turn to meet his doom.

Kuroba-kun had his elbows on the table, resting his cheeks on both his hands. Noticing that he was heading over to serve the food, he smiled at Saguru. The kind where he closed both of his eyes to do so. Like a cat showing it's trust. Saguru would be a fool if he thought that's what Kuroba-kun actually meant.

He placed the plate gently in front of Kuroba-kun.

"Here's your omurice. ...master.." he said, knowing that Kuroba-kun expected him to call him that for as long as he was still wearing the dress.

"Hmmm, mouu, you can do better than that, Haku-chan!" Kuroba-kun pouted up at him. He blinked. He wasn't sure what exactly he did wrong or what Kuroba-kun wanted. "Can you say that in a cuter way?" he said, smiling at him again with _that_ smile.

"Cute...?" Saguru was confused.

Kuroba-kun pull one hand away from where it was holding up his head and then did a cat-like beckoning gesture with his closed fist.

"Cute!"

'He really should have realized what Kuroba-kun wanted considering the headband that he was wearing had cat ears on them,' Saguru thought to himself.

Taking a deep breath, Saguru prepared himself for further embarrassment.

"Omurice filled with love is served, master~!" He said in a chirpy voice, doing his best impression of his customer service smile. As he tilted his head slightly, doing the cat gesture thing with both his hands next to his face.

Kuroba-kun clapped.

"That's what I'm talking about! Haku-chan's so cute!" He said enthusiastically. Saguru sighed internally, relieved that he did the right thing, and that he did enough to satisfy Kuroba-kun's unsaid expectations. "Neee, Haku-chan, in that case could you write 'love' on the omurice? For me?" Kuroba-kun was doing _that smile_ again.

Saguru felt his face exploded in red, and grabbed the ketchup bottle that was conveniently on the table. If his hands were occupied, then he can't bring them up to cover his face in embarrassment. Let's get this over with.

Quickly, and maybe questionably, he skillfully wrote the kanji for love. Then, being at a lost as to how he should make this 'cute', he also added a bunch of hearts on the omurice and on the empty spaces of the plate as well.

He put on his customer service smile on his face again as he turned to Kuroba-kun.

"Please enjoy, master~"

And proceeded to walk out of the dining area as fast as he could.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	16. Day 16

Day 16: "Listen. No, really listen."

Just because Akako hadn't tried to do any of her weird magic on him recently doesn't mean Kaito wasn't suspicious when she started acting suspicious.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Kaito would like to think that his relationship with Akako had improved since they first met (back when she kept trying to kill him). But, see, the thing with a bad first impression was that, even if you ended up being on somewhat friendly terms with that person, the moment they start acting differently than normal, they're immediately suspicious again.

So, here he was, following Akako quietly through the school, after hours.

To be fair, Kaito did see her sneaking around very obviously through the halls during break time, or lunch time, or whenever she can. Looking around and into rooms, like she was looking for something. Whatever it was, though, she didn't want people to know that she was looking for it. He'd seen her rush to hide from people when she thought someone saw her skulking through the halls. He'd seen her brush aside classmates (of both genders) who came up to her asking if she needed help with something.

As he said, very suspicious.

Up ahead, he saw her stopping at the corner, then peeking out from it to look into the other corridor. He decided to take this chance to go up to her and ask what the hell she's been doing since school. He snuck up quietly, until he was close enough, then he switched his steps so that they would make soft footstep noises.

Akako tensed, and turned slowly, elegantly, deliberately, towards him. Eyes widening in surprise when she saw who it was. He gave her a cocky wave.

"So what are you up to, oujo-san?" He whispered.

She looked nervous as she hesitated to reply, looking behind her, to the other corridor, and then back to him again. Hmmm, interesting, whatever it was must be pretty important if she wasn't willing to just tell him. She looked behind her again when she sighed resolutely, turning back to him with a stern expression on her face.

"Just be quiet and listen," she said.

Kaito waited to see what it was she wanted to say to him, but she didn't say anything. Confused, he opened his mouth to ask, but was interrupted before he could.

"Shhh! I _**just**_ told you to be quiet and listen!" she whispered harshly, looking very annoyed at him. What.

He stayed quiet and did what she said for a bit. But he couldn't hear anything. Akako wasn't looking at him anymore, but have moved into the corridor she was peering at moments ago. So he followed her.

"What exactly am I supposed to listen for?" He asked her quietly after getting close to her again. She sighed and whirled at him.

"Just _**listen**_." She whispered insistently. He tried, he really did. The confusion must have shown on his face because she continued. "No, _really_ listen."

Kaito sighed and tried to do what she told him to. He really didn't understand why she couldn't have just told him so he could just help her or leave her to whatever she was doing. So, he closed his eyes and tried to really focus on just using his ears.

...there was a sound ...and another ...and another. A melody? Song? It ...sounded like it could be a piano? It didn't sound like whoever was playing it was pressing the keys very hard, like they didn't need to. It sounded like a soft song, almost slow in its pace. He kept listening.

Maybe Akako fell in love with the music and was trying to find out who was playing. Had she grown enough that she'd finally moved on from the notion of enslaving all men? If that's what was happening, then he couldn't help but feel happy for her. This was what he wanted her to experience.

And then the pianist sang.

All of a sudden, the only thing he could focus on was that soft, lilting voice. He couldn't understand what it was saying. All he could think about was how graceful and elegant it sounded in it's softness. It was beautiful.

Kaito placed his fingertips against the wall of the corridor as he walked towards the song. He wanted to hear more of it. He _needed_ to hear more of it. The voice sang gently, almost effortlessly as it stayed on pitch without problem, mingling and mixing with the melodies of the piano perfectly. He couldn't help but feel drawn to it, like the song was pulling him in. The alluring voice as the main attraction.

A gust of wind was blown into his ear, startling him. He snapped his eyes open and felt himself snap out of the trance that he was in. He turned around to look at Akako, to ask her why she did that and what the heck just happened. Only to find her looking at him with curiosity.

"It seems that while you are not affected by my charms, Siren Songs are very effective on you." She answered his confusion. Siren..?

Before he could say anything, he could feel himself tuning into the voice again. He tried to fight it. But it sounded to lovely...

And then, suddenly, he realized what he was doing. And felt something around his neck. He reached up to touch it, lifting it up to his eyes to see a simple looking coin with a thin rope going through it.

"Interesting... You're very affected by it even though he's not a full blooded siren." Akako mused next to him, apparently fascinated by his reaction to the voice. He looked at her with annoyance.

"Why didn't just tell me about this?" He whispered to her, annoyed by her antics. Akako shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, if you were me, wouldn't you be curious to see if the only person immune to your magic was also immune to the Siren Songs?" She whispered innocently.

He scowled at her. She had a good point, but still, that didn't he liked being used as an experiment like that. Even if the siren had a beautiful singing voice.

"So," he whispered to her, "who is it?" Now that he wasn't under a trance, he could appreciate the singer's ability even more. It wasn't just magic that made the song beautiful, but the singer's skill as well.

"Why don't you take a look?" Akako said smugly. She knew, he realized. She knew who it was, but she still snuck around school anyways. Half of him wonder if she did this to trick him into following her. If it was, then it was a damn effective plan.

Kaito turned to peek through the small glass window in the door, moving and shifting slightly to get the right angle to see who it was. Blond hair came into vision.

"Surprising, isn't it?" Kaito could hear the smugness in her voice as he felt the heat rising to his face. "I never would have thought that our resident teen detective would have siren ancestry."

Kaito decided that it was better to just ignore Akako right now, as he watched Hakuba sing and perform on the piano. He has better things to focus on other than how smug she's feeling right now.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.

[real life's been a bit crazy so i haven't had the chance to even update this fic properly, sorry bout dat y'all]


	17. Day 17

Day 17: "There [was] just something about them."

Just because some people look the same, act the same, and have the same interest... just because those things are all present, it doesn't have to mean anything.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Kaito observe them from the lab table he was currently leaning against. He might have thought passingly, when he could remember about the strange young ancient girl, that they seemed similar. The didn't really think much about it, not really. Not when most of the things he noticed about the two were all superficial attributes. Sure, they were both wavy haired blondes, but they were also both of mixed descent. Okay, so they had blue eyes, but so did he.

Really, there weren't any reason to think about Hakuba Saguru and Haibara Ai, and think about how similar they are. At least that's what he thought.

Looking at them now, in front of him, hunched over something in whatever experiment they were running, Kaito couldn't help but see all the similarities between the two.

They met over a dead body. Because of course they did. That's what happens to detectives in Beika when Kaito wasn't around. What surprised him when he finally found a head of blond at the scene was the fact that it was accompanied by another, smaller head of blond. A very familiar looking one too.

Well, that, and the fact that Hakuba was off to the side speaking to policeman alongside the scarily looking ancient child. When Kaito got closer, he could hear them talk and discuss about the different chemical compounds that could produce the reaction needed for the crime, the reaction speed, scent, color, whatever else. They spoke to each other comfortably about the sciences involved that Kaito was decently sure that Hakuba didn't even realize he was speaking with a child (not).

(Kaito was pretty sure the not-child wasn't supposed to be drawing attention to herself, but it seemed that a shared passion for the sciences was enough to make her slip up. Or maybe it was because of the harmless aura Hakuba gave off when he started nerding out.)

And that was the start of the beautiful and slightly terrifying friendship between one Hakuba Saguru and Haibara Ai.

Which lead to Kaito having to give up on his date when Hakuba called him to cancel because he and Haibara-chan had a breakthrough or something. Of course he was miffed. That was why he insisted that Hakuba let him come over, just to be in his presence while he does whatever science stuff.

Really, he shouldn't be thinking so much about this. Okay, so they had the same shade of hair, so do other people. The eye color and shape were also the same, but again, it's not exactly uncommon. The same upturned nose. Same earlobe shape. Very similar facial structure, with Hakuba having a more defined jawline.

He was probably overthinking this.

So what if two similar looking people ended up having similar interest and passion for the sciences, and fashion. A creepily similar taste in fashion and interest to follow trends, with enough knowledge about brands to have opinions of them. And it's definitely not that strange for two people to have similar level of intellect. He was an example of that.

Honestly, he was just thinking too much about this because Hakuba recently revealed to Kaito that he was adopted.

It probably didn't mean anything that the ancient child also looked similar to the woman he was blackmailed into disguising as while on the Bell Tree Express. It probably didn't mean anything that that woman looked even more similar to Hakuba than the ancient child.

None of those things stopped Kaito from thinking that there was just _something_ about them. Kaito didn't know what that something was. But it was _something_.

"I never would have thought that Hakuba would end up dating someone like you." Speak of the devil, and he might just send one of his demons after you. Kaito turned and looked down at the speaker. The other ancient child he knew of. One also possessing the same level of intellect as everyone else in this room. Who was currently observing the two blondes science together.

Kaito remained silent, thinking of a plan of attack to deal with the KID Killer.

"Aren't you going to deny it?" tantei-kun asked. Well if he was going to be like that...

"Deny what?" he asked back cheerily. The boy wincing at his bright poppy tone. " that Hakuba's my boyfriend? Why would I do that when it's true?" If tantei-kun wanted to be an ass, then he can be one too.

The boy scowled at him.

"You know that's not what I mean."

And Kaito did. But really, that wasn't that important of a topic of conversation right now. He decided to ask the question that's been popping up in his mind ever since he's seen the science duo interact with each other.

"Those people... the ones that were on the Bell Tree..." Kaito wasn't sure how to ask this. "Do they know about Hakuba?" he settled with this inelegant ending to his stuttering question.

He continued to look at Hakuba, not wanting to see what kind of expression tantei-kun might be making right now.

"No..." the boy trailed off. That wasn't reassuring. "But Hakuba's a good detective." Very not reassuring. "And he was with us at Karasuma's mansion." Okay, well this is just doing the opposite of reassuring. Kaito turned to look at the boy.

"You're not involving him in this."

"That's not my choice to make."

"Isn't this _your_ case?"

"Then do you want to tell me how to get Hakuba to back off after he caught scent of a case?"

Kaito had no reply to that. So he opted to stare at the boy, maybe it was a glare, maybe he looked terrified.

Edogawa Conan sighed.

"Look, I can't promise anything." The not-child in front of him said seriously. But he was always serious, wasn't he. "All I can say is that he won't be alone. You're not the only one who's worried about his involvement in this. We'll have his back."

Kaito stared as he digest that weak attempt of reassurance. Well, that was probably the best tantei-kun could provide, considering his situation. He sighed heavily, and turned back to the two blondes who've been so absorbed in their experiments that they didn't even notice what was happening around them.

If Kaito didn't know better, he would have thought that he was watching a pair of siblings hang out. But he did know. Maybe. There was a story here, and Kaito didn't know if he wanted to find out or not.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.

[so life's still crazy, but i promise i do have the whole of fictober finished XDD, but updates are gonna be slow, sorry y'all]


	18. Day 18

Day 18: "Secrets? I love secrets!"

In which Kaito got suspicious of Hakuba's absences from school.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

To be honest, he only really came here to see why the prim and proper Mr. Prince had been skipping school for the past 4 days now after arriving back in Japan. If Hakuba was skipping because he was busy solving some whatever case in some whatever country on the other side of the world, then that would be a different story. It wasn't that he was worried or anything... It was just... suspicious... Considering that since Hakuba transferred, he'd teamed up with Aoko in making him skip class less. Which was kind of offensive? Like, he didn't skip _that_ much.

In any case, really, honestly, he only just came to check and see if the blond detective wasn't planning anything. _That's all_.

Fine, so he got to see a cute little bonding moment between Hakuba Sr. and Hakuba Jr. as they watched old videos of baby Hakuba together. Sure, he got to see how adorable baby Hakuba was, all dressed up as Batman and singing a... Batman song? There was a lot of "na na na." Shame he grew up to be the annoying bastard, although he didn't change that much in terms of how much of an otaku he is. And ok, ok, he got to learn that Hakuba used to call his dad "daddy" and apparently still does.

Point is, for all that he got to learn about Hakuba today, Kaito was pretty sure that he didn't deserve to get the kabedon treatment from said person.

"Ah," he said as he tried his best to back away from Hakuba while backed up against the wall "Saguru-botchama... is there something I can help you with?"

Hakuba didn't reply, not right away at least. Only leaned in closer, squinting at Kaito.

"You're new..." Hakuba finally muttered out.

Was he sweating? He was probably sweating.

"Ah, yes, I've only started working today," He answered, hoping it would get Hakuba to finally back off.

Hakuba did _not_ back off. In fact, he did the opposite of backing off by bringing a hand up, slowly, close to his face. _His mask_.

"Saguru-botchama...?" He asked, trying to project nervousness (which is very real right now) and confusion (also very real) into his voice.

A nail scratched under his left jaw and he tried to swallow his nerves. Fingers went to pinch his cheek and he kept very still.

"Kuroba-kun... can you keep a secret?" Hakuba asked with a hazy look to his eyes.

Fuck.

"Saguru-botchama, I'm not sure I-"

"Kuroba-kun, all I have to do, is _pull_." Hakuba tugged at his cheek lightly. A warning. A threat. "So. Can you keep a secret or not?"

He pulled out his nicest smile.

"Secrets? I love secrets!" He said cheerily.

'Now please let go of the mask and let me go, holy shit Hakuba, it's not like I planned to tell anyone about the baby videos.'

Hakuba let go of the mask. Hakuba did not let him go.

"Good. Please follow me." Hakuba might have said please, but the tone was obviously that of a command. Then, he pushed himself off and away from the wall and began walking down the hall. Kaito remained there, staring at Hakuba's weird walk.

Right, he was actually sick, wasn't he...

Hakuba had a hand on the wall as he walked slowly, with precision and care down the hall, swaying slightly as he walked. Then, he stumbled.

Kaito reacted more on instinct than anything. But he rushed over to put his arm around Hakuba's waist to hold him up, when Hakuba flinched, hissed and pulled his arm away from his waist. The blond was trembling.

"Don't touch me. Please. Just... let me use your arm." Hakuba gasped out. It must be something really bad if he's still this sick after missing this much school already.

Hakuba stumbled toward his room, using him as a support. Kaito was about to turn away and leave when they reached the door, but Hakuba held on to his arm.

"Come inside, please." He said quietly, not really giving Kaito much choice considering that he had his arm held captive.

Kaito walked into the room, and took a look around. It wasn't like he didn't already know what the room looks like, but he wanted to see why Hakuba wanted him here. The door lock clicked behind him and Kaito tensed slightly, turning around slowly to see what's going on, only to see-

_**Red**_**.**

Kaito inhaled sharply at the sight of the bright red splotch right in the middle of Hakuba's plain white shirt. The red that wasn't there before. He watched the blond's shoulders trembled, it looked like Hakuba was leaning against the door, before he turned around and stumbled on to bed.

"The kit should be under the sink in the bathroom." Hakuba said as he began to unbutton the shirt.

He went to get the kit. It was bigger than he expected. Almost as big as his own, back in the KID room.

When Kaito got out of the bathroom, he saw the blood-soaked bandages on Hakuba's back. It was _huge_. It covered his whole back.

"What... Hakuba what the hell happened?" He asked in horror, not caring if he was exposing himself anymore. Didn't the teacher say that Hakuba caught a bad case of pneumonia? That wasn't pneumonia.

"Please remember what I asked you out in the hall just now, Kuroba-kun." Hakuba replied as he started to unwrap the bandages. What.

What?

Oh.

"No one knows this?" He asked, slightly hysterically. Watching as Hakuba casually unwrap himself like the world's bloodiest present. Why was he so calm?

"Baaya knows. But she's out right now, and I need to change the bandages now." By this point, Hakuba's voice had returned to his usual smooth cadence.

The answer implied that Kaito wouldn't have known if he didn't decide to sneak in today. _The answer implied that Hakuba's father didn't know_.

"You're not gonna tell your dad about this?" He asked, very hysterically this time.

"No, and neither will you." Hakuba snapped at him, turning his head slightly to glare at him. Then he looked him up and down. "Please get some warm water in a bowl and a washcloth too." He requested politely, before going back to carefully unwrapping the bandages.

He put the kit down and dutifully went back to get what Hakuba asked.

When he came back with the bowl and washcloth, Hakuba had finished unwrapping the bandages as best he could and had dumped the bloody pile of cloths into a plastic bag beside the bed. He put the bowl and washcloth on the bedside table, and went to remove the bloodied gauze still stuck on Hakuba's back.

"It looks worse than it actually is." The bastard had the audacity to reassure him while looking like this.

"_Why_ don't you want your dad to know?" Kaito asked the question that had been bugging him. Hakuba sighed.

"My father's a very busy person. ...Today was the first time I've seen him in a while. I didn't want to ruin the day for him..." Hakuba slumped over slightly as he answered Kaito.

Right.

He forgot.

The reason why they all got along pretty well. Why sometimes Hakuba got along even better with Aoko than he does with her.

"He's going to find out eventually," he reminded Hakuba of the inevitable as he began to clean the blood from Hakuba's back.

"But not today," Hakuba said resolutely, "I just need it to not happen today."

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	19. Day 19

Day 19: "Yes, I admit it, you were right."

In which Saguru plays wingman.

...and plays the untitled goose game too.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

_Honk_

"I still think that you're overthinking this, Hattori-kun"

"I am _**not**_ overthinking this. I am thinking about this at the perfect amount!" Hattori-kun yelled back at him through the phone. Saguru winced slightly and shifted his shoulder a bit to adjust the position of his phone.

"Isn't it just a confession?"

"_Just a confession?_" Hattori-kun yelled, even louder this time.

This time he flinched away from the phone, dropping it from his shoulder entirely. Bringing a hand to his left ear to rub it as he stared tiredly at his phone. Which is making noises. You know what, good, that's what Hattori-kun gets for yelling in his ear.

He looked back at the situation with the groundskeeper. Wait. The keys! Saguru worked on getting the keys back from the groundskeeper for a few seconds, before bringing the phone back between his shoulder and his ear.

"You done yelling in my ear, Hattori-kun?"

"Did you have to do that?!" The Osakan exclaimed, without yelling this time.

"Oh, I don't know. Did you have to yell in my ear?" He snarked back, because Hattori-kun deserved it.

_Honk_

And the groundskeeper deserved that. For taking his keys, that is.

Hattori-kun sighed.

"Could you blame me?" he sounded absolutely hopeless.

"No, but that doesn't mean that I don't still think that you're overthinking this." Saguru answered. Hattori-kun's strength was in his emotions, but so were his weaknesses.

"Explain."

"Well, Toyama-chan and you are best friends from childhood, right?" he prompted.

"Yeah and?"

"Well, in that case, even if the confession was an absolute disaster. If you put your heart in it and you show her how much you care, then she'd be able to understand exactly how you feel." Saguru finished his explanation, _and_ put his keys away. Safe from the grabby hands of a crabby groundskeeper.

"Wha- It can't be a disaster!" Hattori-kun argued.

"Hattori-kun, even if you planned everything perfectly, you need to be prepared for things to not go according to plan." Feet nudged at his lap as he reasoned with Hattori-kun. He turned to look at the owner at the offending feet.

Kuroba-kun had his arm over and off the couch, his head thrown back over the armrest, looking up at the ceiling.

"And how you have so much _experience _with that, don't cha?" Hattori-kun replied snidely.

"Shouldn't you know this already? Considering the fact that I told you of it the day it happened." Saguru reminded him. He smiled a bit as he thought back to how it went for him. Sure, he was on the receiving end of the confession, but Kuroba-kun later talked to him about all the things he went through and planned. Only to just do it out of nowhere, discarding all the things he'd planned. It was sweet.

"Ugh, dude, you don't need to remind me about your perfectly happy couples life." Hattori-kun complained. "Why does Kuroba always end up in our conversation?"

"To be fair, this time you're the one that came up and interrupted my conversation with Kuroba-kun." He wondered if the guilt trip would work.

"Wait, are you on a date? Dude, why didn't you say so! We can just talk later!"

Ah, so it worked.

"It's fine, it's fine," he chuckled a bit. Ok, maybe he felt a bit bad for messing with his friend. "I don't mind. Kuroba-kun doesn't either."

Feet nudged harder at his lap, one foot even going up to try and kick at his Switch.

_Honk!_

Luckily, Saguru moved his hands away just in time. He turned to look at his bored boyfriend again, only to see Kuroba-kun giving him a very unimpressed look. Saguru replied with his very own unimpressed look. Then he finished his response by sticking his tongue out at Kuroba-kun, squinting his eyes close as emphasis. He peeked at Kuroba-kun to see his reaction, but he was just staring back at Saguru. Oh well.

Sorry, Kuroba-kun, but it's bros before ...uh. Well... friends come first!

Then he turned back to his garden. Ha. _His_ garden.

"Well if you say so..." Hattori-kun hesitated.

"I do. You should trust me on this. And on the matters of your confession as well!" Saguru might as well use this momentum to push it through Hattori-kun's thick skull to just confess.

"What! I can't do that! It has to be special! Kudo-"

Saguru exhaled sharply and loudly, interrupting Hattori-kun.

"What does this have to do with Kudo-kun? This is about your relationship with Toyama-chan, what does Kudo-kun have anything to do with it?" He was starting to get frustrated.

"Well it has to be better than his confessh-"

_Honk _

"_**Why**_ exactly does it have to be better than his?" Saguru interrupted him again. "You're trying to impress Toyama-chan are you not? It's not Kudo-kun you're trying to impress, why does he matter in this? If I didn't know better, I'd think that you're in love with him, Hattori-kun" He snapped.

Silence.

He honked at the shopkeeper to relieve the tension.

On the other side of the call, Hattori-kun sighed.

"Ok, yeah, fine, I admit it. You're right."

He honked at the shopkeeper again, a little celebration. Yay, Hattori-kun wasn't mad at him!

"Of course I'm right. I'm almost always right. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to steal toilet paper from the shopkeeper and continue my date with my boyfriend."

With that, he hung up the phone.

\- Convince Osakan friend to confess [CHECK]

And with that off the list, he can happily go back to his game _and_ his date now.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	20. Day 20

Day 20: "You could talk about it, you know?"

Not all anniversaries are created equal.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

He woke up alone.

It was still dark out. A quick light tap on the digital clock at the bedside activated the screen showing him the time.

3:10 am

Saguru sighed as he stretched and got up out of bed. Yawning as he looked around their room, looking to find clues of Kaito might have disappeared to. The light of the moon shone through the windows and glinted off his ring, making him squint against the glare. He looked at the windows. The curtains were still drawn. So Kaito must not have gone out. He got out of bed.

To the kitchen. It was time for hot chocolate.

It didn't always happen. It wasn't an event that occurred every year, no.

The scar had healed over completely. But that didn't mean that there weren't occasional flare-ups. Sometimes, the environment they were in would refuse to let them forget and move on. Not that they could ever forget.

They met Kenta Connery again for the first time in almost ten years yesterday.

He'd grown into a sharp and courageous young man. Someone with very strong ideals for justice. They chatted a bit about where they are in life now, plans for the future, and Kenta's plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Saguru gave him as much advice he could, telling the freckled blond of the preparations he took, just in case he wanted to join the Interpol.

Saguru was grateful that the young man didn't bear too many similarities to his late father in terms of their physical appearance.

But Kenta brought back memories. And unfortunately, most of them weren't welcome.

The door to Kaito's room was ajar. The light peeking through hit his ring finger and reflected onto him as he used his body to push the door open the rest of the way. Kaito was on the sofa he'd placed in the room for lounging purposes, shuffling cards fancifully and mindlessly and he stared blankly ahead. Saguru changed his steps to be more purposeful, Kaito twitched. His eyes flicked over to Saguru slightly and back. Then he put away the cards.

Saguru joined his husband on the sofa, handing him the freshly made cup of hot chocolate. Kaito accepted the cup and leaned into him, resting his cheek against Saguru's shoulder.

"You could talk about it, you know?" He said softly, bringing his left hand up to Kaito's hair, carding his fingers through his husband's hair and scratching slightly at the scalp.

Kaito shook his head.

"Stay."

So he did.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	21. Day 21

Day 21: "Change is annoyingly difficult."

Stress isn't very conducive to breaking bad habits.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

It's been over an hour since Hakuba left the war room.

20 minutes since the meeting had ended.

He couldn't remember what made the blond leave and why. He didn't have the time to focus on other things when there were so many lives on the line with this operation.

The Organization was bigger than he thought, bigger than Tantei-kun thought.

Luckily, they both had more than enough connections between thieves, magicians, detectives, secret police, not so secret police, and a bunch more other international organizations. Not to mention the fact that apparently their parents had been working together to tackle The Organization before either of them were even born. Hell, his dad was one of the casualties.

So no, he didn't really have the chance to even think about why Hakuba might have left or where he went. Why bother thinking about the future when you might not have one?

But with the blond missing... Kaito couldn't help but feel the nerves and the paranoia that had been building up since the meeting increase in intensity. His mind raced to come up with various versions of the worst possible situations, and began to apply them to the missing detective.

Kaito shook his head. This wasn't helping.

While they have their differences, he and Hakuba did share some similarities. For one, they both have a penchant for high places. And second, was the fact that they were both private people, or at the very least, they were private in their breakdowns. Kaito had other clues to help him trackdown the currently elusive detective. Things like numbers mattered to Hakuba, especially lucky numbers. Luck. Something they were all in need of right now.

Which was how Kaito found himself on the 7th floor of the building, opening a door that led out to the outside staircase, something created with the very purpose of helping people escape.

Cigarettes.

That was the first thing he noticed. Not just the scent that assaulted his nose as soon as he opened the door, but stubs that were lying on the floor. There wasn't a lot of them, just a couple, but it was enough to make him doubt his deduction. _Maybe he should have left the deductions to Hakuba_.

But as he looked up, Kaito realized that he wasn't that he deduced incorrectly, he just didn't have all the information.

Hakuba leaned on his forearm on the railing of the staircase, smoke lazily drifting out of his mouth slightly open. There was faded smoke hovering and hanging all around his body. Almost as if Hakuba was just an afterimage of himself, as if _he_ was the phantom, the ghost, and not Kaito. His left hand casually fiddled with his choice of poison, occasionally flicking some ash down to the nebulous void space below.

"I didn't know you smoke." He announced his presence to the blond, who didn't seem very surprised that he was here.

"I don't. I quitted." Hakuba said. He squinted at him as he joined Hakuba, leaning on the railing beside him. "Well, that's what I wanted to say," the ghost beside him spoke, gesturing lazily at with the cigarette, "but... well, change is annoyingly difficult."

He stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. If anything, it felt like Hakuba needed someone to talk to rather than someone to converse with.

Hakuba looked down at the alley below them. He looked sullen. Haggard, like an old tired warrior who had seen too much and and been carrying the weight of the world for too long.

"It's a bad habit. One I didn't think I'd end up relapsing." Hakuba explained vaguely, bringing his right hand up to massage at his temples.

"It happens doesn't it? Relapses," he asked softly. It might have been something he didn't expect from Hakuba, but at least he knew that quitting is hard. He hoped Hakuba wasn't beating himself up over it. Not when poison seemed to be his only solace in this situation.

"I've been clean for over a year, Kuroba-kun."

A statement.

It had an impact.

Hakuba's hands shook slightly and he moved his hand away from his face, clenching it, while he shakily brings his left up to his lips and breathe a bit of relaxation, a bit of himself back in. As the Hakuba sighed out the smoke, Kaito could see the difference it made. His limbs were hanging looser, the tension in his shoulders and back eased.

Hakuba turned to him and Kaito felt like he was looking at a stranger and a soulmate all at once. He knew that face, but not. He looked unreachable, with all the smoke drifting and hanging around his face. He looked like he was about to disappear. As if, were Kaito to reach for him, his hands would go right through Hakuba.

"You shouldn't be here." Hakuba said, looking further and further away from his grasp. "It's not good for you." He gestured vaguely around him.

Kaito didn't know if he was referring to the smoke or himself.

He stepped into Hakuba's space, leaning his body against him. Ah, so he wasn't a phantom after all.

Hakuba looked at him the same way he always does. Like he was a puzzle, made just for the detective to solve.

Kaito looked at him right in the eyes.

"I'm exactly where I should be."

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	22. Day 22

Day 22: "We could have a chance."

Really, Kaito probably should have known better than to take a bet from Kudo.

Especially when Kudo noticed him staring.

(in which Kaito is thirsty and that one blond is a nice fresh tall glass of water)

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"We could have a chance!" Aoko shouted with equal measures of optimism and trepidation.

Kaito nodded absently as he looked around at the buzzing crowd that were all gathered up around a makeshift stage of who knows what.

Not for the first time, he wondered what he'd gotten himself into when he accepted the bet from Kudo. At least Aoko was there, and got offended on his behalf before declaring that she was going to take part as well. Really, he didn't know what he did to deserve a friend like Aoko, but he was grateful for it.

So here they were, stood up way too close to the stage than they had planned to, to survey the competition and to figure out what exactly they've gotten themselves into. From what he could gather, the event was mostly hosted by the participants themselves, coming together to create the dance competition together. No prize money or anything, just the knowledge and pride of having won via popular vote, casted by how loud the crowd cheered. So there was a lot of passion in here, and there were probably a lot of amateurs in the competition. Just like them.

Kaito just hoped that the _real_ competition wouldn't be too hard to beat... considering that their bet was on the line.

Suddenly, the lights all turned off.

The crowd hushed themselves down to the volume of gossip and murmurs.

Then, they all felt it, the electronic beats of the song began to creep in, slowly growing in intensity and so did the vibrations coming from the giant speakers at the stage.

Then, like magic, lights exploded onto the stage, focusing on the figure who'd exploded onto stage with the lights.

Oh. hell. Damn it, Kudo.

He'd recognize one of the dancers pretty quickly as that one blond friend of Kudo's that he kept seeing around the campus, the aristocratic looking one. Kaito felt his face heat up. The blond didn't look very aristocratic now.

He couldn't recognize the other dancer, the companion, the partner to the blond. Then again, how was he supposed to recognize her when he couldn't take his eyes off of the blond. He vaguely noted that the girl had straight long hair. Very flowy and smooth, one that fit with the societal notions of classical beauty. Probably. The blond was a classical beauty too, but by western standards. Nothing wrong with that... not at all.

He watched them as they moved with the beats of the song, their motions increasing in purposefulness and energy as the song volume and beats increased in intensity. His eyes were honed in on the blond, as always. Watching every step, every lift of his arm, every bend of his body.

How he exploded into action when the song does, before slowing down to a smooth graceful glide of movements with the song.

Smiling as he mouthed to the song, clearly enjoying the song they've chosen, enjoying the performance he was putting out, enjoying the crowd's cheering and screaming and clapping.

It matched with the song.

Or maybe the song matched with him, Kaito noted as he kept watching the blond move. In tandem with his partner, the music, and the energy of the crowd. Kaito brushed aside the thoughts noting that the blond was _very _flexible and _very_ in control of every bit of muscle of his body.

Then his partner ripped his shirt open.

Oh.

Uh.

Kaito's face heats up as the crowd's screaming and cheering reflected his internal reaction.

The spotlight was highlighting every bit of sweat that gathered on the blond's body, making him glisten. Highlighting all of his, uh, assets...

Kaito couldn't help but watch.

Watched every flex of muscles as the blond moved his hips tauntingly.

Oh... the blond was _**very**_ in control of his body.

When Kaito managed to finally lift his eyes up a bit, he was rewarded with a cocky, mirthful smirk on the blond's face. It made the blond look smug, condescending.

But _**god,**_ that looked good on him.

When the dancers finally stilled, and the music stopped, the crowd exploded in a final extended burst of applause, cheering, screaming, yelling.

Giving the dancers exactly what they wanted, if the content of the song was to be believed.

In the back of Kaito's mind, he could hear the MC announced them as the winner of the last dance competition. He could hear Aoko's "oh... maybe we don't have a chance..." this time, filled with more trepidation.

But he wasn't focused any of that. Not was he watched the blond's chest moved as he tried to gather his breath. Watched the blond's expression turned into that of a satisfied and joyous smile, unhindered by his lack of breath.

"We do." He replied to Aoko.

Because they will, Kaito decided. They were going to win, maybe not in what they planned to or how they expected, but one way or another, they will win.

In Kaito's defense, Kudo never specified _**what**_ he had to win at the competition.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	23. Day 23

Day 23: "You can't give more than yourself."

Saguru had been taught the same thing over and over in the past. He's finally learnt his lesson

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Sometimes he forgets. It doesn't happen very often. But sometimes, he'd forget about the magic running in his veins.

He watched helplessly in his bonds. Watched as a distant cousin of his, an old friend turned scorned enemy, squeezed his hand around KID's heart.

On the ground, KID gasped out in pain. The magician thief might have a poker face, but as it turns out, there was nothing quite like the feeling of having your heart squeezed by the hand of a vengeful sorcerer.

"Oh how lovely!" his cousin said in a sarcastically sweet tone. "Look at it!" he said, turning the heart this way at that, as if he was inspecting some precious gem. He might as well be. "Such a nice, healthy, bright red color," he turned to look at KID, "well I wasn't expecting a thief to have such a noble heart." His fake smile made way for a condescending sneer as he squeezed the heart again.

KID writhed in pain on the floor, hand clutching at his empty chest. He was gritting his teeth, not giving Saguru's cousin the satisfaction of hearing a pained scream.

On the other side of the room, Akako-san continued to yell and shout insults as she struggled against the bonds keeping her in place.

"Really, cousin," Ah, his cousin was addressing him now. "You really should know better than to be something you're not."

"And what am I?"

"Her blood, their blood runs in our veins," his cousin scoffed. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"I try not to let my DNA decide my fate."

He heard himself spoke, and reply to his cousin's taunts, like it was a distant memory. Like he wasn't really there, like this wasn't really happening.

"Then let me remind you of your place, of our place in the world, cousin."

And then he squeezed KID's heart again, and didn't stop. No.

"No!"

Saguru shouted, fighting against the bonds his cousin, no. Against the bonds his enemy put on him. He racked his brain for something, anything to undo the bonds, any spell, any curse, just anything.

The sorcerer smiled pleasantly as he crumbled the glowing heart into dust.

KID lied still.

Akako-san let out an anguished scream, and along with it, unleashed a shockwave of energy. One strong enough to break her bonds, strong enough to make the sorcerer panic and vanish himself, strong enough to break his bonds.

He rushed to the pile of dust beside KID, reaching out to touch it, then gather it in his hands. He can't do anything. All there is, was dust. His hand trembled slightly as he turned to look at KID. Akako-san dropped to her knees, she was sniffing, doing her best not to cry. She couldn't. After all, how would she enact revenge if she lost her powers.

"Spare your tears, Akako-san." he said distantly as he moved over to inspect KID's body.

Everything felt like a movie.

Like he was seated on the very back seat of the cinema, on the highest seat.

The body was still warm.

There was still time.

If he acts quickly.

"You can't give more than yourself."

His mother told him, and he bowled over, crying and sobbing over the lost his first pet.

He raised his hand to his own chest, where his heart beat strong, and remembered his lessons. Remembered his magic.

"You can't give more than yourself."

His mentor told him, as he cried himself to sleep after having failed to save the patient from a curse, after he tried so hard he fainted from exhaustion.

It's true.

He can't give more than himself.

But no one ever said he couldn't give less.

He gasped as he reached inside, and wrapped his fingers around his own heart. So this was how it felt, to have someone play around with your heart. Then he ripped it out.

It glowed bright red as it beat in his hand. Healthy, like the sorcerer said about KID's heart. Saguru turned his heart around in his own hands, checking for any speck of darkness that might be present. There wasn't one. Good.

Holding his heart in his hands, he took a breath to steady himself, and twist.

Saguru gritted his teeth against the feeling, the wrongness of it, and kept twisting.

He's read about it before, back when he was still an apprentice. How it was possible to live with only half a heart.

Finally his heart broke into two. He panted, then pushed one half back into his chest. Then moved closer to KID, holding the other half with both his hands.

He was fascinated by the willingness of the witch that made the discovery. Especially since she did it, broke her own heart into two, so that she could bring her husband back to life.

"Live." He said to the half held in his hands. He didn't think the command would work, but it didn't hurt to try.

"Be free."

Then he placed the half on KID's chest, and pushed it in.

...

...

...

KID gasped as he snapped his eyes open, a hand going to clutch at his chest.

* * *

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	24. Day 24

Day 24: "Patience… is not something I'm known for."

Akako went to the only people she knew who could help her with this problem.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"I keep hurting her." Akako-san said, distraught.

"Yes, you do." Kuroba-kun said, irritated and annoyed.

"Kuroba-kun! If you're not going to help then please go somewhere else." Saguru said, tired of his boyfriend's moods. Which really wasn't what they needed right now.

"No, stay." Akako-san argued. "I asked for both of you to be here." She looked up at Kuroba-kun, then looked down at her hands again. "I deserved it anyways."

"You're being too hard on yourself, Akako-san." Saguru said, interrupting his boyfriend before he could agree to Akako-san's self-deprecation. It really wasn't what they needed right now, and he will keep interrupting Kuroba-kun if he has to.

Beside him, Kuroba-kun huffed in annoyance, before turning away from both him and the witch.

"I just want to stop hurting her!" Akako-san said in frustration. "It's like, everything I say and do, they're all just wrong! They weren't wrong before! But it is now!" She slumped after getting it all out. "None of this was wrong before... and now it's all wrong..."

"You need to be patient with yourself," he reasoned. "It's not like you had any way of knowing these things before now. You're just learning." Because she was. She's had to relearn a lot of things now that she's chosen to be a part of the world, not apart from the world.

"Patience... is not something I'm known for." Akako said quietly, shyly, as if disappointed in herself.

"And that will be another thing that you will have to learn to do," he said gently. "Patience isn't something people are just born with, Akako-san. I'd had to work hard for mine. You'll have to do the same for yours." He used himself as an example, hoping to help her feel better about this. And to make the goal more achievable.

Akako-san frowned.

Perhaps he didn't succeed in making it look achievable...

"Try."

They both turned to Kuroba-kun. His voice was firm, but not harsh.

"Just keep trying." he said. Looking sternly at Akako-san. "Aoko's not a patient person either, but she's trying her best to be patient with you." At that, Akako-san looked guiltily down at her hands.

Saguru reached over to pat at her hand, not saying anything. Sometimes, to get a message across, you need a bit of tough love. And it was the tough part that Akako-san seemed to be responding well to.

"And don't give up." Kuroba-kun continued. "You want this, right?" He asked, and Akako-san snapped her head up and nodded vigorously. Looking at his boyfriend with pleading eyes. "Then don't give up. Because if you gave up, then it means you gave up on Aoko, on your relationship."

Akako-san inhaled sharply, eyes widening. Then they narrowed in determination as she nodded resolutely.

"I won't give up."

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	25. Day 25

Day 25: "I could really eat something."

Everyone's hungry in the morning, especially Kaito.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"Ugh, I could really eat something." Saguru grumbled as he got out of bed and stumbled his way out of the bedroom, presumably down to the kitchen.

Kaito grumbled too, as his favorite space heater abandoned him and their cocoon. It was too early in the day, and he wasn't done sleeping yet, and he wants his heater back. He tossed and turned for a bit in the blanket burrito before deciding that it was a lost cause. He yanked at the blanket, struggling to find the ends so that he could unwrap himself and get out. After struggling for a few minutes and almost falling off of the bed, Kaito finally freed himself from his self-made prison.

He yawned, smacking his lips together. Hm, was he hungry? He might be hungry. He shrugged to himself as he stretched, cracking his joints here and there, getting rid of any stiffness he got from the night. He was probably fine for now. He just had to figure out what excuse to make to Saguru so he doesn't make Kaito eat anything. He was really not in the mood to regurgitate anything today.

He sighed as he rolled his eyes with his whole head.

It's so annoying to play human.

His brain kindly reminded him of Saguru, and of last night. Kaito smirked. Well, some things made all the pretending and acting he had to do all worth it. He hummed happily as he sauntered downstairs to join his boyfriend.

The scent of oil, and salt, and meat drifted to his nose. Well, he guessed that it was meat, of some kind. A lot of human foods smelt similar to him ever since he first got turned. It had been a long while since he last smelt human foods for what it actually was. Kaito didn't think he could really remember what they actually smell like anymore. It used to bother him, back when he was first turned. Not anymore though. Why miss what you can no longer have? Especially when you won't ever be able to get it back.

Kaito's been alive for long enough to have learnt this lesson.

He entered the kitchen to find his boyfriend looking like an absolute mess, swaying slightly as he stood in front of the stove. Kaito didn't think he'd ever seen Saguru's hair look this messy, all mussed up to the point that it's doubled in size. His hand barely holding on to the spatula as he swayed in place, snapping into attention at the pop and sizzle of the pan in front of him, before going back to looking dazed and sleepy again.

Kaito's eyes trailed from Saguru's arm to the marks littering his naked torso with a satisfied smirk. He took a deep breath instinctively at the sight of a lovely healthy looking fresh meal, just standing so totally unaware of his presence. The presence of a predator. Hmmm... Saguru has always smelt good to him, but today he was smelling absolutely delectable.

He stalked quietly into the kitchen, taking a long sniff again. Hmm, yesss, Saguru was smelling quite delicious this morning. Kaito eyed at all the exposed skin, his lovely prey's long vulnerable neck, and licked at his fangs.

Accidentally, he nicked his tongue on one of his fangs, ow, he didn't expect them to be fully extended already. He swallowed the blood in his mouth.

Then snapped out of his trance, and quickly backed away from Saguru. He made a noise as he pressed himself against one of the walls in the kitchen, startling his boyfriend from the sleepy daze he was it. Kaito gulped.

Saguru turned around to look at him, looking like he could benefit from a few more hours of sleep. Kaito still pressed up against the wall. He positioned himself to look more casual and relaxed his face back into a neutral expression. Saguru smiled sleepily at him.

"G'mornin', you hungry?"

'_**Yessss'**_

Kaito smiled shakily while his mind screamed at him.

"Ah, not really. I don't really eat breakfast," he lied.

"Hmmm, that's not good." Saguru pouted at him with those kissable lips. Calling him to come closer, just for a taste, just a little.

But he couldn't, not to Saguru.

Saguru turned his back to him and went back to cooking. "Breakfast is the most important meal, you know?" Saguru said in that cute tone of his when he wanted to be playful. "Well, let me know if you change your mind, ok? I can always make more."

It was sweet. That Saguru cared so much about his well-being, about keeping him well-fed, when he was the one person Kaito never wanted to feed on.

Kaito swallowed dryly as he stared grimly at his boyfriend's back.

He was so _so __**hungry.**_

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.

(grjkgdhskl i thought i already posted these, sry y'all)


	26. Day 26

Day 26: "You keep me warm."

Kaito can't get out of bed.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

"Hakuba, let go." He said, pushing at the blond's shoulder.

Kaito didn't know how they ended up like this.

Well, ok, he knew why they were sharing beds. School trip mix up shenanigans. Blah blah, room arrangements, blah blah, no other rooms left. So he was stuck sharing beds with Hakuba. Whatever. It wasn't like he had his KID stuff with him.

The real question is how, in the span of one night, a blond detective had turned into this cuddlemonster with his arms and legs wrapped around him.

Hell he wasn't even lying down, and his back will pay for that later, but how the fuck is Hakuba just ? cuddling his legs like some kind of, what, pillow?

"Dude." He said again, put his hand on Hakuba's head, before gently shoving it away from him. It had the opposite effect. Instead, Hakuba just tightened his arms and legs around his legs, nuzzling his face into the side of Kaito's hips.

"Hmmmnn," was a noise Hakuba made as he frown into his hips.

Kaito blushed.

Wait, no, no, don't you dare blush, no blushing allowed, no, fuck no.

"Hakuba, dude," he tried shoving at the sleeping blond again, making him frown even harder. "Dude, just let go of me, man."

"Mm don't wanna." Hakuba said, petulantly into his skin. Oh, c'mon.

"What happened to staying on our own side?" Kaito asked Hakuba. "C'mon, didn't we agreed to say on our own side?" He reminded Hakuba, because he honestly didn't know how they got here.

"Mm warm." Hakuba mumbled.

"What?" He couldn't really tell what Hakuba was mumbling about. Was he complaining that it was too warm? Because that was totally his own fault, like, c'mon, if you're warm then just let go!

"Hh you keep me warm." Hakuba grumbled out, before nuzzling his face against Kaito's hips again.

Fuck.

He looked down at the sleeping blond, cuddling up against him and pouting like a child.

He brought both of his hands to his face as he felt the heat rise in his cheeks and ears. He squinted his eyes and tried to remember. Oh fuck it.

Fuck, fuck fuck fuck, why was he being cute right now. What the fuck. Who gave him permission to be all cute like this. What. What the fuck. Didn't Hakuba know that they were supposed to do this thing were they taunt each other and ignore everyone's feelings, especially their own? What the fuck is he doing.

Hakuba nuzzled and rubbed his face against the side of his hips again, near the hip bone. That couldn't have been comfortable, what the fuck. Stop that. Stop being cute. Fuck. What the fuck.

Kaito kept pressing his hands into his face until he could he felt that dumb stupid looking lovesick smile go away before he removed his hands from his face. Now, time to remove Hakuba from his person. He turned to Hakuba, to try to figure out how to detangle himself from this cuddlemonster.

Hakuba was smiling softly, all relaxed and without a care in the world.

Kaito brought his hands back to his face again as he felt his blush came rushing back.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, he's so _cute_. What the fuck, that's fucking adorable. Guys weren't supposed to be cute, what the fuck, Hakuba.

Unable to help himself, Kaito turned to look down at the cutie keeping him trapped again. Hakuba hadn't changed much since the last time he looked. He was still fucking adorable hhhhhh and _soft_. Ahhhh his face looked so soft. And so did his hair.

Kaito at least had the self control to stop himself from cooing at his classmate like a total dumbass. Which he currently was being. A total dumbass, that is.

His hand twitched.

Damn it, he wanted to touch that hair. It looked so soft, and fluffy, and thick, and all messy in Hakuba's sleep. Ahhh he really shouldn't. But...

Kaito squinted at Hakuba.

But, Hakuba was asleep right now... it would be okay... right? It wasn't like Hakuba would know... or find out... right?

Kaito moved his right hand away from his face, and slowly reached down to where Hakuba's head was. Gently sinking his fingers into the nest of blond hair, ahhh so soft, and silky. Kaito smiled to himself. This was the best idea he had ever had. He began to comb his finger through Hakuba's hair, petting at it, scratching lightly at his scalp. Just letting himself enjoy this as he kept petting and playing with his sleeping classmate's hair.

Then.

Hakuba sighed softly, and turned his head slightly, leaning into Kaito's hand.

Kaito couldn't stop the stupid, derpy looking, lovesick smile from appearing on his face as he looked down at Hakuba.

Ahhhhhhh that's so

"Cuteeee~"

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	27. Day 27

Day 27: "Can you wait for me?"

Kaito reminisces about a summer from his childhood.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Sometimes, Kaito would think back to his first love.

He didn't realize that was what it was back then. How could he? He was a kid (not The KID like he was now), like what, 5 years old? Kids weren't thinking about love and all that stuff. We thought about stuff like, who was going to be our best friend forever, or how weird/scary girls are.

Besides, he didn't realize that you could also love guys.

Well, maybe he did, but it was its own separate thing. Until he had a realization during his teen years. Aka, now.

Aoko called him an idiot for not realizing it sooner, since he's always liked "shiny" things. Which, okay, fair, the boy he liked had light blond hair. Which probably, definitely, counted as shiny. He also had light blue eyes, like the sky on a bright summer day. Which means he was probably foreign, or something. Which means Kaito would probably never get to see him again. So really, he should stop thinking about the angelic looking boy from his past that he was never going to meet again and just move on.

"_Can you wait for me?"_

Except, he kept remembering their last conversation. The one they had when the boy told him that he was going away. No more meeting up at the park. No more cops and robbers chases. No more adventures through the woody areas. No more bug catching. No more stories.

Kaito was upset, understandably. One of his best friends was going away, why shouldn't he be? But the boy reassured him that he would be coming back, and asked for Kaito to wait for him.

He was probably still waiting, to be honest.

Kaito put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun before tilting his head up to look at the bright summer sky. This was probably while he was reminiscing about the past when he was supposed to be enjoying a summer trip with his friends in Kyoto.

Does it count as a summer fling if he was 5 and didn't realize he was in love?

Technically his friendship with the boy only lasted through the summer. So it probably fitted the criteria, right?

"Kaitoooo!" Aoko called him, snapping him out of his daydreams, as she walked back towards him. "Have you seen Hakuba-kun? I think we lost him," she said, looking around for the blond. He turned to look around too. The blond was nowhere in sight. He sighed.

"Just stick with Keiko and Akako," he told his best friend, "I'll go find where he went."

"You sure?"

He waved his phone as he turned away from her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll text you. He probably got distracted by a grandma who needed help or something." And with that, he went to retrace his steps and look for the missing blond detective-classmate of theirs.

It didn't take long for him to find Hakuba. And as it turns out, he wasn't that far off when he said that Hakuba probably got distracted by a grandma, considering that he was talking to one at a shop.

He leaned against a wall nearby to observe the blond in his not-so-natural habitat. His posture was slightly hunched over, like Hakuba was doing his best to make himself look smaller to match his height with the granny. He was smiling pleasantly, maybe more dorkily than normal, as he talked with her. Laughing here and there, eyes twinkling with mirth, he looked like an actual teenager.

The Aoko that lived in his mind would like to remind him that she was totally right about him having a crush on Hakuba. And the rest of his mind shushed her.

Hakuba laughed again, the laughter slowly turning into giggles as he brought a hand up to politely cover his mouth. The giggles fluttered around him like the sound of a windchime, tinkling melodically, gently, teasingly.

Like little fairies, flying annoyingly around his head.

The granny seemed to have noticed him and gestured in his direction, making Hakuba turn to look. Kaito lifted his arm to give Hakuba a little jaunty salute. The blond looked a little startled at his presence, eyes widening and mouth slightly open as he was caught unawares. Surprise transformed into a close-lipped, sheepish smile.

"Sorry, sorry, can you wait for me?"

Hakuba said, his mouth in the shape of a smile, eyes closed. A full and open and genuine smile.

In his mind, Kaito could see the smiling face of his first love superimposed itself onto Hakuba's face.

He gasped quietly.

No... no, that couldn't be right... Hakuba's hair was a darker blond color, even if it was getting lighter and lighter with every day spent out in the sun.

Kids with blond hair sometimes grew up to have brown hair.

And the boy's eyes were bright light blue. Hakuba's were brown.

Sometimes babies born with blue eyes also develop color in their eyes later in life.

Somewhere between his mild breakdown, Hakuba wrapped up his talk with the granny and jogged over to where he was leaning against the wall.

"Thank you so much for waiting! Sorry I made you come all the way back here." Hakuba apologized while smiling sheepishly at him. Kaito pushed himself off the wall and started walking back towards Aoko's group. Hakuba fell into step with him, shoulder brushing against his slightly from their closeness.

"Next time tell us if you're going to stop, man. Don't just suddenly disappear out of nowhere." He complained, focusing on being annoyed at the blond rather than thinking about the chaotic thoughts running in his mind.

Hakuba just laughed.

Kaito really wasn't known for his abilities to resist temptations. So he turned and looked up at him.

Damn it.

It was late enough that the sun illuminated the world in a much more intense yellow golden color than it would at midday, and the colored rays of light only highlighted the color of Hakuba's hair. He looked as princely as he behaved with the shining golden crown on his head. The shape of laughter etched in his face had a mischievous look to it as Hakuba looked at him from the corner of his eyes. As they walked, the position of the sun's rays changed. One moved across the prince's face, right up to were his teasing eyes were, transforming molten chocolate brown to look almost like glittering rubies.

"My bad, my bad," Hakuba said around his laughs. Kaito had the distinct feeling that Hakuba had stopped laughing with him and had begun to laugh at him instead.

"I'm sorry I kept making you wait for me, Kuroba-kun."

_It can't be..._

He continued to stare up at Hakuba, thinking back to the boy that Kaito used to tease for being so so small and petite.

Hakuba smiled knowingly at him.

_Right...?_

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	28. Day 28

Day 28: "Enough! I heard enough."

In which Kaito realizes that you can't know a person from what other people are saying about them.

(This fic is unbeta'd.

another warning: this fic is extremely ooc, as in everyone in this fic is ooc, like, literally everyone. why didn't i fix it? coz i was already behind on fictober at the time XD)

* * *

"Enough! I've heard enough!"

Kaito was startled out of his conversation by the sound of Aoko's furious yells. He snapped his head in the direction of the noise. Not that he had to, Aoko was already marching angrily towards them.

"I can't believe you!" She whirled towards him.

Kaito raised both of his hands in defense and backed away slightly. He wasn't sure what she was mad about, but he hadn't made her this mad in a really long time.

"How could you just let them talk about Saguru-kun like that! Aoko thought you were finally getting along, why are you just standing here doing nothing, Bakaito!"

Wait.

Saguru-kun?

Okay, so that's what this was about.

"We were just kidding around, Aoko." He explained to her, hoping that she'd stop yelling at him. Honestly, he didn't think he did anything to deserve this treatment. "It's nothing serious. I was complaining about you too, Ahouko." He teased.

Aoko looked a little less mad at him, even if she was still frowning.

"It's not like anything said was wrong though. That Hakuba guy had got to be the most pretentious and patronizing guy I've ever met." Hattori complained.

Ah, damn it. Aoko whirled to the Osakan, fury blazing in her eyes once again.

Well, that wasn't his problem anymore. It's not _his_ grave.

At Aoko's glare, Hattori repeated his gestures, backing away from Aoko slightly. Unfortunately for him, he kept talking.

"Look, maybe it's different for you or something. It's not like I haven't met him, ok? He's probably being nice to you because he's a gentleman and you're a girl." Hattori defended, and he was on a roll. The guy was always on a roll when it came to complaining about Hakuba, to be honest.

Like, Kaito could understand, but at the same time, dude, you've literally only met him, like, once? He had to deal with the blond as a classmate, _**everyday**_ and _he_ didn't complain as much. And it wasn't like Hattori had to deal with the blond subtly implying that he knew about your secret identity as a KID at every chance he got. It was fun to complain about Hakuba with the guy, but honestly, he didn't get the grudge that the Osakan had again Hakuba. At this point, it was probably better for Hattori to just let it go and forget the whole thing happened all together.

Oh well, seem like he wasn't done apparently. Maybe Kaito should start making funeral preparations considering how increasingly mad Aoko got.

"Besides, for all his talk, he's not actually that good of a detective, you know. He talked shit about how I do things, but he ended up coming to the wrong conclusions and not figuring out the right culprit." Hattori continued his retelling of the Detective Koshien thing where they all met apparently. Well, except for Kudo.

Kaito looked down at the other teen detective to see what he has to say about all this, but Kudo was also just observing the scene play out. Well, more like he was staring at Aoko. Knowing what he knew about the shrunken detective, he also turned to look at Aoko, because there was something to be observed... apparently.

"Stop talking like you're any better than him! You're just as bad as he is!" Aoko yelled over Hattori's volume. Which Kaito knew was something Aoko was capable of, but didn't expect to witness so soon. And neither did Hattori, well, the latter part, not the first part. Hattori didn't know Aoko.

Wait, wasn't Aoko defending Hakuba? What was happening again? How was calling Hakuba bad supposed to help his _or_ her case?

"What?! I'm not as bad as him! I just told you he couldn't even figure out the real culprit!" Hattori yelled back, offended by Aoko's accusations.

Kaito felt like the point got lost somewhere between the two. He wasn't quite sure what the point was. But he was pretty sure it was lost. And he was pretty sure it was Hattori who lost it. He turned to look at Kudo again, he was now squinting at Aoko. Okay, so he was getting some info out of Aoko, right. How the hell did this happen and why did it have to happen to him again?

"Ughhh! What are you even talking about?! I meant the fact that you're just as mean as he is! You kept going on and on about how he's arrogant and thinks he's better than everyone else, but you're the one that told him he didn't even _belong_ there!" Aoko argued back.

Wait. What? That was different.

Kaito turned to look at Kudo, who's tilted his head slightly now, while doing that thinking pose of his.

"What?" Hattori faltered slightly.

"Aoko knows Saguru-kun's not nice sometimes, but he's friendly to new people, okay! Everyone at that koshien kept talking about how he didn't belong there, just Kudo-kun this and Kudo-kun that. Saguru-kun already knows he was a replacement! Why did you have to keep making him feel even more like an outsider than he already does!"

Aoko was on a roll. Hattori looked pretty stunned at the things she was saying, and so was Kaito to be honest. All he remembered about the koshien, from what Hakuba told them, was that he made a fool of himself there. Which was still true, but wasn't the whole story apparently. Aoko wasn't done though.

"He's already treated like a foreigner everywhere he goes here, and then you wouldn't let him stand on equal grounds of being a teen detective either, just because he recently moved back! Of course he retaliated and hit you right back! If someone made you feel horrible, you'd have the urge to do the same to them too!"

"He still came to the wrong conclusion," Hattori fought back. "He got the culprit wrong in the end."

"You almost lost your nerves though," Kudo spoke up.

They all turned to him.

"Ah... Edogawa-kun..." Aoko faltered and looked a little lost now that she's noticed the shrunken detective.

"Hakuba's words hit you hard enough that you almost lost confidence. You might not have done as well if you didn't recover and regain that confidence. And that only happened after we talked." Kudo told Hattori, or was he just reminding him of what had happened.

"So you had help then," Aoko said quietly. Hattori opened his mouth looking like he wanted to argue, but Aoko continued on. "And Saguru-kun was there by himself, while everyone in that place wanted him gone."

They all fell silent at that. Hattori looked away, frowning. Kudo continued his thinking pose. And he kept looking at Aoko, who looked so sad for their friend. Or maybe just her friend. It wasn't like he'd done anything to get close or tried to be a friend.

In his defense, Hakuba _was_ after him.

_Ping_

Aoko looked at her phone to read whatever message she just got, and _relaxed_. All the tension in her body draining out. Then she sighed and adjusted her posture to stand tall, looking at Hattori.

"I have nothing left to say to you."

With that, Aoko spun around and walked away briskly, head held high. Kaito's eyes followed her all the way to where she stopped.

Right in front of Hakuba.

Who tilted his head as he looked down at Aoko, lips moving. Then he looked up in their direction, eyes wide with surprise. He smiled, raising a hand to wave briefly, before looking back at Aoko. He was still smiling as they walked off, laughing occasionally at whatever Aoko was saying.

There was a lot that he didn't know about Hakuba, wasn't there.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	29. Day 29

Day 29: "I'm doing this for you."

Forget it, Shinichi was never going to ask KID for a favor ever again if this was the kind of payback KID expected out of him.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

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"I can't believe I'm doing this for you." Kudo whispered as he kept running through the halls Kaito directed him to.

Kaito chuckled smoothly, the KID laugh, as he watched on different screens to monitor Kudo's movements and paths. He needed to make sure the detective was moving the area he designated and planned for.

"Ahh, but remember meitantei-kun, you owe me." He grinned wickedly to himself. He could hear Kudo groaned through their communicator.

Kaito kept smiling as he watched the events unfold before him. Kudo owed him and he planned to use this favor very _very _well.

...

Shinichi ran into the room KID told him to go to and looked around for the specific window he was supposed to escape from. He really hoped everything went according to plan. He really didn't want to have to do something like this ever again. Ugh, remind him ever to ask KID for any favors ever again. If this was the kind of thing he had to do to pay it back, then Shinichi was going to figure out how to get through his own problems without the help of that annoying thief. God, he's dead if Ran ever found out about this.

Spotting the window, he slowly made his way towards it. Weird that KID knew Hakuba well enough to think that the blond detective would definitely try to corner him here, in this room. Or maybe it was weirder that KID knew that Hakuba knew him well enough to know where he would go...

Ugh, this was why he never went to any of the heist in Ekoda or ones where Hakuba was present. It always had this weird vibe going on. Damned thief, involving him even after he'd already stopped going to the heists.

Behind him, Shinichi heard the door close shut, and the lock turned.

"_Okay, Kudo, it's showtime~"_

He took a breath to gather himself and adjust the voice changer at his throat. Okay, like the thief said, it was showtime.

"Finally caught up to me, tantei-san? I was worried I'd lost you." Shinichi said in a teasing tone, hearing KID's voice come out instead. This was so weird. Okay, okay, poker face and stuff.

He tugged the brim of his top hat down slightly, to cast more shadow onto his face. Not that he needed to, the point was for Hakuba to see that he wasn't whoever the blond thought KID's civilian identity was. He smirked, because KID was always smirking when confronting detectives.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Hakuba smirk in response.

"On the contrary, KID-san. I have you exactly where I wanted." Hakuba replied arrogantly.

"Ah, so this was a trap then?" He turned to face Hakuba, still keeping his smirk. Shinichi tilted his head up slightly to show more of his face. KID better not be asking him to do anything else with how much he was risking right now.

Hakuba made his way towards him casually.

"That depends. You could think of it that way, if you'd like." The blond spoke cryptically.

Shinichi faltered slightly. From what KID told him, the banter usually goes along the lines of either Hakuba calling KID out on his mistakes (the same way that he does as well), or Hakuba inquiring for KID's motives again. So far, he had done neither. The comment on falling for the blond's "trap" didn't really count. He was pretty sure the blond could tell that he came here on purpose.

"And what would it depend on, tantei-san?" He asked. Because they were apparently going off-script now, and Shinichi would really like some additional information to reorient himself. His mother might be an actor, but that didn't make him naturally gifted in improv.

"Your reaction."

"_What the hell does that even mean?"_

Okay, he was being _really_ cryptic apparently, if KID didn't even know what to expect.

"My reaction?" He prompted. When Hakuba didn't reply, he had no choice but to ask, "To what?"

Hakuba was close enough that he had to tilt his head up to look at him now. Damn, was he supposed to let Hakuba this close? Probably, he was supposed to let Hakuba see that he wasn't whoever KID was.

Then Hakuba took his left hand, the one that he didn't have in his pocket. Shinichi tensed.

"May I?" Hakuba asked, looking down at their hands. The smile on his face could almost be described as gentle. And the way he was holding Shinichi's hand was definitely gentle. Oh, what the hell, why not.

He shrugged, keeping watch on what Hakuba was doing.

Hakuba brought his other hand to cradle Shinichi's left hand, along with the one that was already holding it. Shinichi was starting to feel awkward, but kept his face neutral. How could he not when Hakuba was cradling his hand like it was some kind of treasure.

Then he brought the back of Shinichi's gloved hand to his lips.

What.

"_What?!"_

Okay, so KID had no plans for this either. Great, wonderful, he was stuck improvising.

Hakuba turned his gentle smile to him.

"I'm sorry. This must have come as a surprise to you, KID-san. But I feel that I shouldn't keep this from you anymore," Hakuba spoke softly, moving closer still. Shinichi's eyes widen against his will.

Oh no.

He knew what this was.

Damn it, KID!

Hakuba brought one of his hands to caress his face gently.

"_Agh! Get __**away from him!"**_

Shinichi couldn't tell who KID was yelling at. Not that it mattered, it would be out of character to move out right now, when Hakuba was this close. Besides, this should be exactly what KID wanted. Now Hakuba got to see his face in full, it should be obvious now that he was not KID.

"I couldn't help but feel helplessly captivated by you," Hakuba said, still smiling, still holding his left hand, still cradling his right cheek. Right where the monocle was.

"_What are you __**doing?**_ _I told you to get away from him!"_

KID continued to yell in his ear. Shinichi really didn't get it. Wasn't this exactly what they wanted to happen?

"KID-san, I have fallen hopelessly in love with you."

And there it was. The confession. Shinichi almost felt bad that he was confessing to the wrong person. Thought to be honest, Hakuba probably deserved someone better than a guy that wanted to jerk him around and fuck with him.

Then Hakuba leaned in.

Oh shit.

"_Damn it, Kudo! Why are you still standing there!? Didn't you hear what I just told you?!"_

Shit. Right. KID was right. He needed to get out of this. But it was too late, Hakuba's face was right in front of his. Shinichi squinted his eyes shut and braced himself. Ran can **not** know about this.

Shit!

...

"Sorry, Kudo-kun. But I needed to do this." Saguru whispered into Kudo-kun's left ear, as he pulled the device from his right one, thumbing around for the button, then pressing it to deactivate it. Then he pulled away from the poor guy.

He felt bad. Really, he did. But when he noticed all the cameras in the building, and noticed the communication device in KID's ear, he couldn't help but feel the urge to prank the thief.

He wasn't sure how Kudo-kun ended up wearing the KID outfit today, but there was probably a reason behind it. He won't pry... well unless Kudo-kun was willing to enlighten him.

"Wait... what?" Kudo-kun asked, fully letting his confusion show in his voice, now that he wasn't pretending to be KID anymore. It was still spoken in KID's voice, however, and that was quite strange to hear. Saguru couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction though.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just wanted to play a little prank on KID, just a little." He winked at Kudo-kun to let him know it was kidding. Kudo-kun blinked at him for a few seconds, then almost slap himself in the ear when he brought his hand up to it.

"You-" Kudo-kun started saying, before he winced a little. Then moved his hands to do something at his throat. "You knew?" He asked again, this time with his own voice.

"Yes," Saguru brought the hand holding the earpiece up to signal to Kudo-kun of one of the things that made him realize something was up. "Again, sorry for freaking you out like that, Kudo-kun." He repeated. Mostly because he wasn't sure if the Detective of the East heard him the first few times he said it.

Kudo-kun stared at him for a few moments longer. Before sighing and released all the tension in his body with it. Then he removed the top hat to smooth out his hair a bit. Even with just that small adjustment, Saguru could see the hair already returning to its normal shape and form.

"Eh, it's fine, he probably deserved it to be honest." Kudo-kun said nonchalantly. Saguru raised his eyebrow.

"Did it actually work?" He was legitimately curious. The famed Beikan detective smiled wickedly.

"Hakuba, I almost went deaf in one ear because of what you just pulled, and I don't even mind it." Kudo-kun replied, cackling slightly. Saguru chuckled, joining him.

"In any case, I hope I didn't trouble you too much, Kudo-kun" He said, hoping that his prank didn't put him on his colleague's bad side. Kudo-kun waved his hand like he was swatting Saguru's worries away.

"Nah, don't worry about it. No harm, no foul." Then Kudo-kun smiled mischievously. "And we got to prank our mutual annoyance. That's a win-win situation for me." He joked. Saguru laughed, glad that he didn't offend anyone and that they had a similar sense of humor. "Oh, and here!"

Kudo-kun threw something at him. Saguru caught it with his right hand. He opened his hand to look at it, tonight's target. Sighing internally, Kudo-kun must have had good faith that he would be able to catch that, or he was just as crazy as Kuroba-kun.

"In that case, I bid you farewell, Kudo-kun. Safe flight!" He said, turning away from the replacement-thief.

"Yeah, yeah, see you later, Hakuba!" Kudo-kun called out as he exited the room.

Saguru chuckled to himself and shook his head.

...

Kaito stared blankly at the black screens in front of him as he took deep breaths, leaning on his hands as they hold him up from the consoles. He couldn't remember when he shut all the screens off. He couldn't remember anything other than the painful squeezing tight pressure in his chest.

He gasped for a breath, gulping it down as his breathing stuttered.

In his mind, he could see the scene play out over and over in his head. Hakuba leaning forward and into Kudo's space before kissing him.

He could feel the wetness dripping down his face. He sniffed and scowled, bringing his arm up to wipe them away. Too bad he couldn't wipe his memory of that scene away too. He bit his lip, staring at nothing, trying to breathe through the ache in his chest.

Static crackled in his headset and he grimaced.

"_Kuroba-kun, if you would like to hear the actual confession, I'm afraid you'd have to actually be there for it."_

Said the sickeningly sweet and annoyingly smooth tone of voice, over the communicator.

Wait...

That voice.

_Hakuba?_

"_I expect that you will actually be present for your confession next time, Kuroba-kun. See you on Monday~!"_

Hakuba said in that annoyingly chirpy tone of his that let Kaito know that the bastard was definitely smiling that annoyingly stupidly pretty dumb smile of his.

_Click _

He's been played!

"Damn you, Hakuba!" He growled out as he threw the headset on the floor. He could feel himself getting heated.

Oh, _**it's on.**_

No, he was **not** blushing.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	30. Day 30

Day 30: "I'm with you, you know that."

If Aoko ends up dying before she gets to be at her dumb best friend's wedding, she's going to come back as a phantom and smack him in the head.

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Kuroba Kaito circled his way around the kitchen, then the living room, then walked up and down the halls, before pathing back to the living room to keep walking around in it.

Aoko watched him from her spot on the kitchen table like she was watching some restless animal at the zoo, walk back and forth in their enclosure because they had nowhere else to go.

She came here to be moral support. Because he called for her to be one, to be here, for him. That was over an hour ago. She had yet to provide any actual support, but considering the one asking for her to come over barely acknowledged her presence, Aoko was at a loss as to what she was supposed to be doing here.

Kaito kept pacing back and forth around his house, muttering under his breath into the hand cupped around his mouth. She really hoped he stopped pacing sometime soon and actually tell her what he wanted her to do here. She was starting to get dizzy from watching him.

As he made another lap around the house, he stopped right in front of her view from the living room. Startling her out of the trance that she was put in from watching him pace around the house.

"I can't do this. I can't"

Aoko rolled her eyes.

Here we go again.

She hopped off the table and made her way over to her best friend.

"And what exactly can't you do, Bakaito?" She asked him in an annoyed tone. Half of her was only pretending to be annoyed. The other half was _this_ close to smacking him if he backs out of the plan. Again. For the fifth time.

He looked at her, worry and stress and uncertainty clearly visible on his face.

"Aoko, I can't do this. What if he says no?" Kaito asked, clearly letting the stress get to him again, as well as letting the paranoia turn him stupid.

"If you don't propose, he can't say yes either." She pointed out. Tired of this back and forth that had been playing between them for almost the whole year now. At this point, she was ready to just take the ring and ask Saguru-kun to marry her dumb friend in Kaito's stead. Saguru-kun would probably say yes, to be honest. He'd probably laugh while doing it too. He'd known what Kaito put her through to get her to that point.

Kaito made a sound that resembled a wail of some dying animal, but only if the animal knew that it was being watched, and was playing it up to make its death even more dramatic. Like the drama queen that he is.

"This wouldn't be a problem if you let Saguru-kun ask, but you said you wanted to do it." She pointed out again.

She really _could_ just encourage Saguru-kun to ask. Since she had spent the entire year dissuading him from doing so. Which meant he was clearly thinking about it. And have been waiting for Kaito to do it. Because there was no reason for Aoko to dissuade him from asking unless someone else was already planning to. Which will be very obvious to him when she suddenly flipped and started to encourage him to propose instead.

But at this point, Aoko couldn't be sure if she'd still be alive for the wedding with how many times Kaito's talked himself out of proposing already. She sighed.

"What?! No! I'm doing the asking!" Kaito argued back.

"Then just do it already!" She yelled.

Kaito backed away with a frustrated groan.

"I can't! It has to be perfect!" He was back to worrying again.

Aoko rolled her eyes with all of her head and looked up at the ceiling as she sighed.

"Bakaito, if Saguru-kun wanted perfect, he wouldn't be dating _you_." She stated the obvious.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kaito asked, offended. She blew raspberries at him.

"It meant exactly what I said! You're a mess, Kaito."Aoko gestured at him while saying so.

They stared at each other, panting from all the yelling and arguing they were doing. Then Kaito sighed. Aoko sighed too.

"Aoko," Kaito said her name like it weighed on him as much as his worries did, "I don't know how to make it right." He sighed the rest of the sentence out. Like it had been waiting to be released, to be acknowledged.

"What do you mean?" She was confused. It was the same thing over and over. He would get happy and excited and enthusiastic over a plan, or a new plan, of how to propose to Saguru-kun. Only for all that excitement and enthusiasm to slowly die out as the days go by and for the happiness he felt to turn and transform into stress and paranoia.

"Things keep going wrong, Aoko." He ran his fingers through his already messy hair. "First the reservation fell through because of problems at the restaurant, and then the flower arrangement I ordered couldn't be fulfilled 'cus apparently, 'my orders were too big', and then-"

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop." Aoko said over Kaito's nervous word vomit. "Okay, first of all, breathe?" She pointed at him as she said that. Watching to see if he actually did what she told him to. He did.

"Second! Are you doing this all by yourself? Why are you doing this by yourself? Why didn't you ask me to help you?"

She asked the questions that had been plaguing her since the first time Kaito told her he planned to propose to Saguru-kun. She thought that Kaito would be involving her in the arrangements for the proposal. She knew how extra and dramatic he could be. So she was very surprised that every time he ever called her to talk about this was about how nothing was going according to plan and how it was going to end in a disaster and that Saguru-kun would break up with him and leave him forever. Again, dramatic.

"What...?" Kaito sounded confused. As if he never thought of all the things she just asked. And that just explained so much, didn't it? Of course, the idiot would try to do all of this by himself, without even considering that other people in his life, in Saguru-kun's life, would want to try to help him make the best proposal ever.

Why did she become friends with this idiot again?

"Kaito," she started, "let me help you. Please." She asked him. Well, _insisted_ was more accurate. "I'm with you, you know that." She said, reaching over to grab his hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "I'm your best friend, aren't I?" She reminded him with a smile.

Kaito stared at her for a while longer. Frozen. Like he was still processing what was happening. Then he smiled.

"Yeah... yeah, you are. Thanks, Aoko."

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.


	31. Day 31

Day 31: "Scared, me?"

Kaito isn't scared. Really. Really! He really isn't!

(This fic is unbeta'd.)

* * *

Honestly, he probably should have listened to Jii-chan and not do this heist. But the story and lore and history surrounding this specific gem was one that made it one of the most likely to be Pandora, and Kaito wasn't about to miss that chance. It felt so close, like it could almost reach it, grab it. And then he wouldn't have to worry about the damn mystery organization becoming immortal and terrorizing the world anymore.

He could go back to just being a teenager.

_**But why did the gem have to be at an underwater hotel?**_

"Kuroba-kun... are you ok?" Hakuba asked.

Right, because Hakuba was here. Because he asked Hakuba to come with him. Here. At the underwater hotel. Where he was going to do his heist.

Okay, so maybe he got a little enthusiastic at the aspect of being a normal regular totally typical teenager again.

He jerked at the bit of Hakuba's jacket that he was holding on to.

"Just open the door, Hakuba." He grumbled. Then shoved a bit at the blond when he didn't do what Kaito just told him to do. Hakuba turned his head slightly to look at him with a concerned gaze, before going to unlock their shared room. At the hotel. The underwater hotel.

"Sorry, I was just worried," Hakuba said as the made their way into the room. "Aoko said laughed when I told her we'd be staying here and told me that you're scared of fish." God damn it, Aoko! He had a feeling Hakuba knew about his secret, but he didn't realize Aoko would be the one to rat him out.

Then again, Aoko had always have this huge bias for Hakuba because she considered them to have a lot in common. And because 'Hakuba-kun is so polite, and he's nice, unlike you, Bakaito.' Ugh, the blond totally suckered her into thinking so positively about him.

In any case, Kaito scoffed.

"Scared, me?" He said dismissively. While still pinching the back of Hakuba's jacket with his thumb and forefinger like he was a shy child. His actions were totally not helping his case right now, but he was being put in a very vulnerable situation, and he was going to find comfort wherever he can, alright?

To prove a point, he let go of Hakuba's jacket and went over to the pile of luggage in the corner of the room. He needs to get his stuff arranged properly so the detective doesn't end up finding his equipment. Not that he had them here, just some. The things that would be useful during an emergency, that's all.

Hakuba didn't make any further comment and joined him in figuring out their luggage. Peeking over slightly, he could see how well organized Hakuba's suitcase was. Unsurprising, considering that it was Hakuba, and the blond was known for being a stickler for order, especially when it was beneficial. That, or it showed how experienced he was as a traveler, to know exactly how to order his stuff in a way that was most efficient.

Then he saw something moved in the corner of his eye.

The fatal error of bringing Hakuba along as a distraction, was the fact that Hakuba was _too good_ a being distracting.

Which led to Kaito getting distracted from the dangers of the situation at hand, and making him forget why he had been looking at the floor of the hotel for the majority of his time here so far.

Aoko called him dumb for not realizing that he had a crush on Hakuba.

Kaito would like to settle the facts here and now. It wasn't that he didn't know that he had a crush on Hakuba. It was the fact that he didn't want _Hakuba_ to know that he had a crush on him.

So here he was. In a hotel room. Underwater. With his crush. Because he brought his crush as a distraction. To distract him from the fish. Only to get distracted. By his crush. Because he was being a dumb boy and he had never shared a space with Hakuba before and he wanted to know everything he could about his crush.

The thing in the corner of his eye moved again, and now it was moving towards him.

OKAY. NOPE. FUCK THAT. NOPE.

He made his escape.

"Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba said, startled from whatever, turning back to look behind him.

Where Kaito was.

Because he was using Hakuba as a meat shield to keep him away from the damn fish.

Again.

"Are you sure you're okay, Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba asked, concern in his voice.

He grumbled into Hakuba's jacket, before making a quick decision to just flop onto the bed, face first, and just ignore everything for a while. Hakuba didn't say anything after that, and all he could hear was more rustling of clothes, clanging of bottles, and dragging noises of the bags.

"Kuroba-kun." Hakuba called out.

"Hmm?" Not moving his face out of the bed.

Hakuba sighed.

"Kuroba-kun..."

Kaito frowned into the bed. Why was he just calling him, just say whatever already! He huffed, and sat up on the bed, still looking down though. Hakuba still hadn't said anything. Cautiously, resignedly, he slowly turned to look at Hakuba, who was just standing, staring at him. He squinted at the blond in confusion, focusing solely on him and not whatever might be in the background.

Hakuba brought a hand up to a button on his jacket and unbutton it, shrugging the outerwear off, never taking his eyes off of Kaito. His eyes distractedly moved down to look at how Hakuba's white shirt stretched as he removed the jacket. Focused on the buttons at his sternum, that were doing their best to hold the shirt close.

Blinking, Kaito looked up at Hakuba's face after realizing what he had done.

Hakuba had this determined look on his face, but smiled shyly at him.

Then he brought his hand up to undo the topmost button on his dress shirt, exposing the hollow of his neck. Kaito stared at the new bit of exposed skin. Hakuba unbuttoned his shirt more, tugging at it, revealing his collarbone.

Kaito gasped quietly, swallowed loudly, and blushed very obviously.

"Uh, H-"

Hakuba unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and rolled on of the sleeves up. He stared at the inside of Hakuba's wrist.

"Hakuba... what are you doing?"

Not that he cared what Hakuba was doing, to be perfectly honest. Kaito was perfectly content right now, as long as he just keep doing whatever this was.

"You brought me with you for distraction, right?" Hakuba asked, rolling up the other shirt sleeve. Kaito swallowed again.

"Uh huh..." He replied distractedly.

"So, I'm distracting you." Hakuba stated simply. Like it was a fact.

* * *

If you'd like me to expand on this fic, please leave a review.

Annnnd that's the end of fictober, again, like all the end notes said, let me know if you like certain fics within this series. Those will get ranked higher in the priority of what gets expanded first.

Thank you for reading!


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